Chevy Chase (right) and
Dr. Angelo Acquista |
APPLECARE
FOUNDATION
Chevy Chases
Jokes
For Benefit’s Success
Story by Nina & Tim Boxer
Photos by Rob Rich
 HEVY
CHASE was all excited being asked to emcee the first annual
benefit for AppleCare Foundation. He thought the goodie bags had
computers.
“I suppose,” he
sighed, “six thyroid tablets and a roll of duct tape is just as
good.”
That elicited giggles
from the elegant dinner guests at Cipriani 42nd Street,
including Ivana Trump, former Gov. Hugh L. Carey, Denise
Rich, Boaz Mazor,
Count Roffredo Gaetani, Laura Steinberg, Nikki Haskell, Jeffrey
Steiner, Agnes Beaugendre, Elizabeth Fekkai, Tony Murray,
Larry and Denise Wohl, columnist Ward
Morehouse III, and radio personality Aaron Braunstein.
AppleCare, the New
York-based organization founded by Dr. Angelo Acquista and Steven
Hochberg, strives to raise public awareness of health care
issues. Acquista, an honorary police surgeon, is clinical
instructor in the intensive care unit of Lenox Hill Hospital.
“If they’re serious
about their mission,” the irrepressible Chevy remarked, “somebody
would go back to the kitchen and tell the chef to put on a hair
net.”
Steven Hochberg and wife |
It was that kind of gala
– humorous speeches and lively dancing to a great-sounding
Italian band named Calibro 9. They had everybody on the dance
floor.
Yes, Chevy too was caught
up in the excitement of the evening. “Have you walked by the
silent auction?” he asked. “I hope nobody outbids me on those
roundtrip tickets to Toronto.”
The goodie bags, by the
way, contained The Survival Guide by Dr. Acquista (Random
House, 2003, $12.95). It’s an important book packed with
critical information how to protect yourself in a biological,
chemical or nuclear emergency.
Ever the comic, Chevy
said he found the book quite comforting: “It was so reassuring,
that near the end I was hoping a dirty bomb would go off just so I
wouldn’t have to finish reading it.”
Ivana Trump and Boaz Mazor |
Every goodie bag also had
two Acquista medical booklets: Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) Health and Safety Guide and 911
Pack: First Aid and Emergency Response. To get copies call
AppleCare at 212 688-0635 or www.applecarefoundation.org. |
