November 17th, 2008. New York
City. Cipriani Wall Street
rolled out the red carpet for
the Happy Hearts Fund 2008 Ball.
Guests were adorned with
Venetian masks, hundreds of
large golden candelabras
decorated the long tables in the
grand room, a Cirque du Soliel
performer hung from a trapeze
swing, all that was missing were
gondolas.
Petra Nemcova, Founder and
Chairwoman took the stage to
welcome us and acknowledge the
distinguished supporters
receiving Heart of Gold Awards.
Infinite Heart of Gold Awards
were presented to two men:
Bernhard Lotterer, CEO AFP
Integra, ING Columbia and Peru
who brought tears to our eyes
when he spoke of the devastation
the earthquake caused in Peru
and Wyclef Jean Founder and
Chairman of Yele Haiti.
Heart of Gold Awards were
presented to Carol and Stewart
Rahr of Kinray, Inc. Stewart
surprised everyone during his
acceptance speech when he
volunteered to donate $1 million
dollars to The Happy Hearts
Fund. The second
recipient, David M. Hryck,
Partner, DLA Piper US LLP spoke
of his legal work for the
organization and about the
catastrophic devastation of the
earthquakes in Haiti and Peru.
The third recipient of a Heart
of Gold Award was Jeffrey
Tarrant who practically brought
the 'house down' as guests
applauded him. He is CEO of
Protege Partners LLC, a Hedge
Fund. Jeffrey is well
respected for his humanitarian
efforts.
Simon du Pury, Chairman of
Phillips de Pury & Company ran
the live auction. One would
never know that our economy is
in trouble by the money
being bid. A week at the East
Hampton home of Russell Simmons
fetched $28,000. A gentleman
bought car # 234 prior to the
production of the 100% electric
sports car made by Teslo motors
for $160,000 and donated it
back. The car was auctioned
again for another $150,000.
Another gentleman stood up and
made a $250,000 pledge. Other
amazing live auction items
included Valentine's Day in
Venice, A Day with Quincy Jones,
a trip to Germany to meet
Wladimir Klitschko, current
holder of the IBF, WBO, and IBO
heavyweight titles, trips to
Utah and Italy, a VIP visit to
the Indy 500 including a ride in
the pace car and on and on.
Petra announced that the total
raised last night was
$3,448,000. Now that is
impressive!
Happy Hearts Fund is a
charitable foundation which
improves the lives of children
through education, technology,
and sustainability. HHF was
launched in 2006 with the
ultimate objective of uniting
people under the same umbrella
of providing hope and
opportunity to disaster-struck
areas worldwide through the
creation of educational and
sustainable initiatives for
children. Today, just two years
on, the Happy Hearts Fund is
present in 12 countries on 5
different continents, and has
positively contributed to the
lives of over 20,500 children
and in turn over 100,000
community members. To date, all
costs and expenses have been
underwritten allowing 100% of
the money raised to help the
children.