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Food For The Poor
Executive Director Angel
Aloma named
actress
Cheryl Ladd
an Ambassador For The Poor at the charity’s
12th annual
Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures gala,
Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, at The Mar-a-Lago Club.
“This was the most successful
Fine Wines & Hidden Treasures gala ever,”
said Arlette Gordon, Gala Co-Chair
“Cheryl Ladd is a
woman of substance,” said Aloma as he introduced Ladd to the
crowd of more than 175, and talked about getting to know her
through her work
with the charity.
Since 2011, Ladd has
championed the needs of the destitute as spokesperson for
Food For The Poor’s Angels Of The Poor program. During the
gala’s live house rally, homes for 25 destitute families
were pledged to be built in Jamaica. A generous donor has
committed to match the number of homes raised.
Ladd and her
husband, Brian Russell, traveled to Haiti from Jan. 20-21
with Food For The Poor representatives to see firsthand the
dire situation of destitute families. The extreme poverty
they saw a day before the charity’s gala was in stark
contrast to the opulence of The Mar-a-Lago Club.
“I admire you for so
many reasons,” said Aloma. “Especially for the many lives
you have saved, and for going to Haiti. You are a woman of
great faith.”
“Many times we had
to stop filming because she was overwhelmed with emotion,”
said Aloma. “The extreme heat from the sun beating down on
the homes of plastic and metal did not deter Cheryl from
entering the dirt-floor homes we visited to meet the poor.
We saw many of her tears on this trip.”
“To be in the
presence of a warrior for the poor is a privilege,” said
Ladd, of Aloma as he presented her with a statue of Christ
as a beggar. “I know I was supposed to come and be with you
tonight. I have seen what happens when you hold back death.”
Ladd’s eyes teared
up as she relayed a message from one of the mothers she met
while in Haiti: “You bring us so much hope, and you are an
answer to our prayers. I want you to know I will be praying
for you. God will speak through you to help us.”
“I hope that tonight
you will open your hearts and answer the prayers of children
and families living in severe poverty,” said Ladd. “Together
we can bring hope and a chance for a better tomorrow for so
many who fight a daily battle to survive.”
The gala was chaired
by distinguished Palm Beach philanthropists Melania and
Donald J. Trump (National Honorary Chairs), Patrick Park
(Honorary Chair), Arlette Gordon and Elizabeth Bowden (Gala
Co-Chairs), Hermé de Wyman Miro (International Chair), Mary
Frances Turner (Ladies' Committee Chair) and Russell
Sherrill
(Gentlemen's Committee Chair).
he Fine
Wines & Hidden Treasures gala
opened with a superb wine-tasting reception provided by
Dreyfus Ashby & Co. and Trump Winery, and culminated with a
five-course gourmet dinner and wine pairing.
The Fine
WLive
auction items included a Joseph Drouhin Beaune Clos des
Mouches double magnum, signed by winemakers Laurent Drouhin
and Veronique Drouhin, and by request at the gala by Gordon
and Ladd – a Kaufmann de Suisse handmade 18-karat yellow
gold and stainless steel callista amethyst bangle – a
12-course dinner for 25 guests prepared by Chef Ron Duprat,
a star on the reality TV show “Top Chef” – and a week
vacation in Italy. Additional exotic escapes, jewelry,
handbags, fine wines, and golf packages were among the
varied prizes in the silent auction.
he Fine
Wines & Hidden Treasures 2015
committee members included Irma Anapol, Michael Cinque,
Michael Dixon, Jean Dolan, Barbara Gilbert, Emilio Guerra,
Lorrain and Malcolm Hall, Helene Karp, Moneca Kaufmann,
Faith Morford, Michael Nadeau, Sally O’Connor, Daniella and
Alfredo Ortiz, Carol Weltz, and Gail Worth.
Gala benefactors
included Elizabeth Bowden, Michael Dixon, Helen Bernstein-Fealy,
Arlette Gordon, Lorrain and Malcolm Hall, Helene Karp,
Patrick Park (Park Foundation), Herme de Wyman Miro (The
International Society of Palm Beach), Russ Reid, and UBS.
This year, members
of Food For The Poor’s Fine
Wines & Hidden Treasures gala committee
hosted pre-event parties at two Worth Avenue stores. A
percentage of the proceeds from sales at both events were
donated to the gala’s house-building initiative in Jamaica.
Moneca Kaufmann hosted a kickoff reception at Kaufmann de
Suisse Jewelry Designers on Dec. 4, and Daniella and Alfredo
Ortiz’s pre-event party at the Daniella Ortiz store on Worth
Ave. on Jan. 13
For additional
information about Fine
Wines & Hidden Treasures gala,
please
call 1-888-404-4248 or emailcarolc@foodforthepoor.org.
Food For The Poor,
named by The
Chronicle of Philanthropy as
the largest
international relief and development organization in
the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry
poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America.
This interdenominational Christian ministry provides
emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines,
educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the
aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development
assistance, with more than 95 percent of all donations going
directly to programs that help the poor.
For more information, please visit
www.Foodforthepoor.org
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