Hundreds
of New York's most powerful and influential women from the
worlds of business, media, government, publishing and the arts gathered
at the Rainbow Room on November 21, 2008 for the Citymeals-on-Wheels
22nd annual “ Power Lunch for Women. ” Emceed
by Diana L. Taylor, managing director of Wolfensohn & Company,
the annual benefit honored Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart
Living Omnimedia, Inc. and Lynda Resnick, FIJI Water/POM Wonderful
for their long-standing commitment to Citymeals and the elderly population.
The event raised $1.5 million – or enough money to hand deliver
235,000 meals for New York's frail, homebound aged.
Among the highlights of the afternoon was the surprise announcement
of an “Emergency Challenge Grant” by Joan H. Tisch, and
her three children Steven, Laurie and Jonathan in memory Preston
Robert Tisch, their beloved husband and father, (respectively) and
founding Board member, long-time president, and generous friend of
Citymeals-on-Wheels. Moved by recent reports of fiscal hardship
at Citymeals, Laurie Tisch rallied the family to issue the following
challenge: starting today, for every dollar donated to Citymeals,
they will match the amount, dollar for dollar, up to $100,000.00. When
matched, the donation will fund over 30,000 home delivered meals.
In attendance at this year's Power Lunch for Women were Cindy
Adams; Christine Baranski; Susan Blumenthal; Mary Higgins
Clark; Carmen Dell'Orefice; Michele Oka Doner; Beth Dozoretz;
Patricia Duff; Nora Ephron; Dasha Epstein; Joni Evans; Florence Fabricant;
Linda Fairstein; Geraldine Ferraro; Stephanie French; Betsy Gotbaum;
Susan Zises Green; Gael Greene; Jamee Gregory; Donna Hanover; Joan
Helpern; Caroline Hirsch; Jenny Holzer; Erica Jong; Adrienne Landau;
Evelyn Lauder; Alexandra Lebenthal; Cynthia Leive; Stephanie March;
Julianna Margulies; Bernadette Peters; Ruth Reichl; Denise Rich;
Judith Ripka; Deborah Roberts; Samantha Boardman Rosen; Liz Smith;
Gloria Steinem; Kathleen Turner; Lillian Vernon; Silda Wall; Patricia
Wexler; Paula Zahn and others.
The afternoon also featured a very special performance by vocalist
Andrea Marcovicci and her 90 year-old mother, Helen, who sang “Autumn
Leaves,” “I'll be Seeing You,” “I'm
Glad I'm Not Young Anymore,” and “Russian Lullaby.” The
performance was accompanied by a touching video featuring Citymeals' recipients.
For a ticket price of $10,000 male attendees had the privilege of
choosing which powerful and famous woman would be their lunch partner. Among
this year's “10K Men” were Michael Batterberry,
Albert Behler, Andrew Borrok, Joseph Cohen, Bill Fischer, Bobby Flay,
Peter Glazier, Robert Grimes, Michael Lynne, Michael Norris, Craig
Pfeiffer, John Pomerantz, Dennis Riese, Lee Schrager, John Shapiro,
Donald Tober and Steven Zavagli.
Founded in 1981, Citymeals-on-Wheels is a not-for-profit organization
and public-private partnership with the New York City Department
for the Aging that raises private funds to prepare and deliver weekend,
holiday and emergency meals to the homebound elderly throughout the
boroughs of New York City. Last year, Citymeals underwrote
the preparation and delivery of 2.2 million meals to 18,000 aged
New Yorkers. One hundred percent of donations from the public
to Citymeals goes toward the preparation
and delivery of meals for homebound elderly.
