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Muffie Potter Aston,
Richard Torrenzano, Helen Schifter
and Grace
Hightower
Photo by Rob Rich
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Lydia Hearst and the
toys
Photo by Rob Rich
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TOYS FOR TOTS
Richard
Torrenzano Calls In
The
Marines To Help The Kids
By Roger Webster
 EW
YORKERS were not just thinking of themselves this season as
corporate crisis guru Richard Torrenzano and the U.S. Marine
Corps hosted their third annual Toys For Tots holiday party at
Doubles, the private club at the Sherry Netherlands Hotel.
His
guests, including Rosanna Scotto, Cornelia Guest, R. Couri Hay,
Lydia Hearst, Jason Grant, Lisa Jackson, Larry and Denise
Wohl, Felicia Taylor, Janis and Charles Cecil, Mitch
Krieger, Cass Almandro, Muffie
Potter Aston, Dr. James
Eisdorfer, David Abramson, Grace Hightower, CeCe Cord, Randall
Stempler, Tina Louise, Christiaan MacPherson, Julie Hayek, Andrea
Stark and Doubles’ guiding light Wendy Carduner brought
over 1,000 toys for America’s
needy children.
Guests
walked down the famous red staircase into the glamorous club
tastefully decorated to the rafters for the holidays and were
greeted by Santa. They placed their toys under the tree and admired
a whole wall decorated with red poinsettias and red and gold glass
balls while the Champagne Veuve Clicquot was poured and the Music
People caroled seasonal classics.
Interestingly,
the marines themselves were just as popular as Santa when it came to
posing for the photographer.
“I
want to be in a picture with the men who are defending our
country” was heard over and over again.
Lance
Corporals Salazar, Wong and Gonzalez, who had volunteered for
“charity duty” from the base at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, were
only too happy to comply.
The
Marine Corps’ Toys For Tots program began in 1947 when reservists
distributed 5,000 toys. Each year the Marines distribute new toys in
their communities through local social welfare agencies and church
groups in more than 290 communities in 50 states.
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