The Lunchbox Fund's Annual Fall Benefit Dinner With Prada
Vogue
Maria Ward
On Thursday, the Lunchbox Fund hosted its annual fall dinner at the Beekman Hotel in partnership with Prada. Now in its 13th year, the event raises funds aimed at ending childhood hunger in South Africa. The organization's founder, Topaz Page-Green, has developed a program where underserved and underprivileged youths are promised warm, nutritious meals at school, and the organization is now responsible for filling 25,000 empty bellies a day at the small price of 25 cents a plate.
It's a vital first step aimed at ending child hunger and, in effect, the cycle of poverty. "There are not many places where you can throw a quarter into a can and have it actually amount to something so meaningful," Page-Green said, radiant in a fringed Prada dress. Not a single detail was overlooked, as event-planners extraordinaires Prentice Cultural Communications created a warm, lovely environment for guests like Billy Crudup, Helena Christensen, and Rupert Friend to enjoy cocktails while admiring the artwork up for auction, donated by Damian Loeb, Dustin Yellin, and more. Celebrity chef and owner of the Beekman's Temple Court restaurant Tom Colicchio created a seasonal menu of burrata with pickled eggplant and arugula pesto, smoked cod with heirloom grains and beets, and horseradish crème fraîche sirloin steak Diane with wild mushrooms and confit potatoes.
During dinner, screenwriter Paul Haggis stood up to make an impromptu speech. He rhapsodized about his admiration for Page-Green and how effective (or, as he phrased it, how "fucking effective") her extensive work with the Lunchbox Fund has proven. Haggis then called upon his dinner mates to donate, not for a piece of art or a raffle ticket but for "absolutely nothing in return." Haggis raised more than $100,000 in under five minutes, joking, "I should give up this whole Hollywood thing." Even more was raised throughout the night in support of a demonstrably important cause that will make a difference today in a life across the world in South Africa.