Benefit Helps Children Get Fed in South Africa
The Wall Street Journal
Marshall HeymanThough the name of her organization is the Lunchbox Fund, Topaz Page-Green was adamant that its fall benefit be a dinner. "A dinner is more festive," she said. "You drink more wine."
Ms. Page-Green started the Lunchbox Fund in 2005 to provide meals to orphaned and other schoolchildren in rural areas to South Africa, where nearly two-thirds of children live in poverty. It now provides more than 2.5 million meals a year.
"This was Topaz and nobody else making this charity out of nothing," said the novelist Salman Rushdie, a longtime friend of Ms. Page-Green. "The simple fact of providing a nourishing, midday meal encourages the children to come to school. These kids really rely on us."
There were other large-scale benefits happening around the city on Wednesday night, including two comedy shoes, one featuring Larry David and Amy Schumer to raise funds for the Natural Resources Defense Council, and another featuring John Oliver and Louis C.L., for the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which supports troops who have returned home from combat.
In comparison, Ms. Page-Green's get-together was relatively small. She took over Little Park, Andrew Carmellini's newest restaurant in the Smyth Hotel in Tribeca, and invited many of her friends. These included some famous faces, like Mr. Rushdie, Liv Tyler, Helena Christensen, Frankie Rayder, Billy Crudup, Sting and Trudy Styler, Chuck Close and Michael Stipe.
"They're all sweethearts," said Ms. Page-Green. "And who wouldn't want to come? We're feeding kids."Her guests also loved the idea of getting to try a restaurant no one in their social circle has ever been to yet. "New Yorkers are jaded," she said. "You have to give them a new opportunity."
In the crowd, there was a bunch of art-world types, thanks to a live auction featuring works by Justin Adian, Ray Johnson, Jordan WOlfson, and a Polaroid diptych of Ms. Page-Green herself by Mr. Close. (Mike Mills, Mr. Stipe's brandmate from R.E.M., bought the Ray Johnson collage.)
And there were a handful of fashion-adjacent ladies, thanks, in part, to the sponsorship of the evening by Prada, including Meredith Melling, Annelise Peterson (who is currently in the midst of planning her wedding) and Maggie Betts.
A big topic of conversation was "House of DVF," the new E! Network reality series, providing you don't necessarily need Mr. David or Ms. Schumer to get partygoers laughing.
This was considered the opening night of Little Park, and the reception of Nantucket scallops with smoked parsnip and apple, and stuffed pumpkin with freekeh, was quite positive. It was even more positive for the black kale ravioli and the crispy brussels sprouts, which, unlike at Tuesday's Performa event—another topic of conversation at the Lunchbox Fund's dinner—already had been cut from the vine.
The evening all seemed rather casual and effortless, "but pulling anything together you care about is hard," said Ms. Page-Green, who was wearing a simple red-and-black Prada dress. "When you're fighting for something, it's always a grueling battle." She used a groaning sound to emphasize the uphill battle of facing poverty. "Here, let me spell that for you," Ms. Page-Green said. "You feel like 'ughhghgh' all the time." She added, "But when people emotionally connect with what you're trying to do, or it resonates with them, that's a huge reward."