City Meals on Wheels

Royal Academy Trust

Paula Zahn (left) and Kathleen Turner

Gael Gets Wheels Turning

OWER!  What a wonderful word that is – strong, energetic, and yes, "power" ful.  That's what it feels like to attend the annual City Meals on Wheels "Women's Power Luncheon," an event created by The Insatiable Gourmet Gael Greene.

About 20 years ago, when women were still struggling to even reach the ceiling, glass or otherwise, Gael's mother was becoming increasingly frail and a stay-at-home.  Gael was achieving the height of her power as one of the supreme foodies in a town obsessed by food.

To help her mother, she aligned herself with the City Meals on Wheels charity, and the rest is history.

Since Gael's involvement, she has enlisted some of the city and world's most powerful women to annually donate millions of meals to the homebound elderly.

Gloria Steinem and David Bale

Three hundred of the New York's most prominent women annually attend the power luncheon. This year the whole affair was donated by the Rainbow Room.

Every year a group of men are allowed the privilege of paying $10,000 to host a table, and that list is getting longer and longer.  All in all, nearly $1 million is raised to help the city's elderly, and every year we are given a letter from a shut-in client, and there is never a dry eye at this luncheon.

Celebrities included Kathleen Turner, Paula Zahn, Gloria Steinem and new husband David Bale (father of actor Christian Bale), bestseller Barbara Taylor Bradford, comedy's Caroline Hirsch of Club fame, the mayor's daughter Emma Bloomberg, and 300 other strong, powerful, wonderful women to help others.  Bon Appetite.

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Sir Howard Stringer and Frances Hayward

Ambassador Inspires
Anglophiles To Dance

HE Rainbow Room, on the 66th floor of Rockefeller Center, is one of the most breathtaking rooms in the world.  This is where the American Associates of the Royal Academy Trust held their annual gala celebrating the magnificent collections in the Academy in London.

British Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Christopher Meyer and his beautiful wife Catherine were guests of honor. This charming couple, who will soon be departing the embassy in Washington, gained many new supporters that evening.

Frances Hayward co-chaired the event with Elizabeth Stribling and Jeane Lawrence. All the Anglophiles came out to support the event.

This is the most dancing crowd – the waltzes, foxtrots and quicksteps had everyone on the rotating dance floor.  This was another evening to remember the special bond of friendship between the U.S. and the U.K.

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Ron Perelman, Penny Marshall, and Ellen Barkin.

Bigger Than Ever

OW is it possible to hold an event, that is strictly SRO, and raise $2.3 million dollars, in the small but elegant grand ballroom of the Plaza Hotel?  Impossible, unless you have Sharyn Mann, Todd Slotkin, the most dedicated board of directors, and a powerhouse gala committee on your team.

This was the fourth year for the Food Allergy Initiative gala, and it was bigger than ever.

Daniel Boulud, was this year's honoree for the Joe Baum Lifetime Achievement Award.  The announcement was made a couple of days before Boulud was named the city's No.1 Chef, and his namesake restaurant Daniel was chosen No.1 in the city.

The previous Baum winners came to celebrate their confrere. They included Drew Nieporent, Alex von Bidder and Julian Niccolini, and Sirio Maccioni.  Dr. Patricia Cayne was honored for her pioneering research work and dedication to causes way beyond her medical expertise.

Broadway's Patti LuPone brought the audience to tears with her emotional rendition of her No. One show-stopping hit, Don't Cry for Me Argentina.  Actor, producer, director sister/brother team of Penny Marshall and Garry Marshall had the audience in stitches for their presentation.

Garry, a lifelong sufferer of food allergies, which caused him great distress in his childhood, accepted the first Award named for him by video.

Alex von Bidder and Drew Nieporent present award to Daniel Boulud.

Sister Penny was there to pick up the award in person. She told the audience she was there because she had the cast iron stomach, but brother Garry had always been sickly as a child.

Garry did a take on what he could and couldn't eat, and once they'd figured out what foods could kill him, he stayed away from them.  After all, "dying is bad for you!"

Mary Richardson and Robert Kennedy Jr., led a star studded Gala Committee with Ronald Perelman (chairman of Revlon) and actress wife Ellen Barkin supplying the glamour.  It was a magical evening, and one enjoyed by the 600 guests squeezed in tight but happily in the grand ballroom.

Have a fabulous holiday season, and may God (of any and every belief) grant Peace on Earth to all people of good will.

Happy Holidays!

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Catherine Saxton has been a part of the New York social and celebrity scene for
the past 25 years. She has worked with Presidents, Kings and Princes,
plus celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly,
Donald & Ivana Trump, Madonna, and on, and on.

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