Donna Karan Gathers Help for Haiti

Donna Karan has rallied people from the fashion, art, music, and entertainment industries to raise money to help Haiti.
Donna Karan Gathers Help for Haiti
Part of the organizing team, Andre Balazs (L) and Andre Harrell (R) applaud with Veronica Webb. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
2/14/2010
Updated:
2/14/2010
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/96516687Hait1_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/96516687Hait1_medium.jpg" alt="Part of the organizing team, Andre Balazs (L) and Andre Harrell (R) applaud with Veronica Webb. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)" title="Part of the organizing team, Andre Balazs (L) and Andre Harrell (R) applaud with Veronica Webb. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-99971"/></a>
Part of the organizing team, Andre Balazs (L) and Andre Harrell (R) applaud with Veronica Webb. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
The Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week opened Thursday, Feb. 11, with New York’s designers focusing their attention on this high point of the season. But in the midst of the hustle and bustle before the week opened, Donna Karan rallied people from the fashion, art, music, and entertainment industries to hold an auction to raise money to help Haiti in the Hope Help & Relief Haiti (HHRH) event, “Night of Humanity,” held on Monday, Feb. 8, at the Urban Zen Foundation.

And what did they auction? Bidders paid for tents, water treatment devices, and cooking stoves, supplies desperately needed by the earthquake survivors, in a campaign called “Tents Today, Home Tomorrow.”
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/96517494Haiti2_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/96517494Haiti2_medium.jpg" alt="Donna Karan speaks onstage at Urban Zen in New York City. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)" title="Donna Karan speaks onstage at Urban Zen in New York City. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-99972"/></a>
Donna Karan speaks onstage at Urban Zen in New York City. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)


Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation is working with other organizations, Partners in Health, Yele Haiti, and Habitat for Humanity, which will partner with the New York City Housing Authority to source volunteers and raise additional funds, according to a press release. The long-range goal is to help rebuild and revitalize a permanent, sustainable community in Haiti.

Combining their efforts with Karan’s to present this event were music executive Andre Harrell, hotelier André Balazs, and The Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN). The entertainment for the evening was by Wyclef Jean and Mary J. Blige; Whoopi Goldberg was the auctioneer, and Soledad O’Brien of CNN was Master of Ceremonies.

The event raised $1 million, Linda Gaunt Communications, press and media contact for Urban Zen Foundation, announced.

The “Night of Humanity” event was the first in the HHRH series to raise support for Haiti. It was followed by “The Relief Party,” an after-party at André Balazs’s Standard Hotel, which included a live performance by Wyclef Jean and music by DJ QTip.
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/96516950Haiti3_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/96516950Haiti3_medium-300x450.jpg" alt="Mary J. Blige and Wyclef Jean attend Hope Help & Relief Haiti. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)" title="Mary J. Blige and Wyclef Jean attend Hope Help & Relief Haiti. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-99973"/></a>
Mary J. Blige and Wyclef Jean attend Hope Help & Relief Haiti. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)


Future events for HHRH include a Haitian art exhibition and setting up “Haiti tents” to be on display during Fashion Week at Bryant Park and on the plaza in front of The Standard Hotel. T-shirts will be sold through the HHRH and Urban Zen Web sites as another way to raise funds for the cause.

According to a press release, Andre Harrell said: ”The people of Haiti need to know that hope, help, relief, and empowerment is on the way. What better way show Haiti that love is out there than to create this organization, and I cannot think of a better person to symbolize the idea of hope and rebirth than Mary J. Blige, who has more integrity and humanity than anyone I know.”

And Urban Zen founder Donna Karan followed, saying that the aims of Hope Help & Relief Haiti mirror that of her own organization: “We are both committed to the philosophy of past, present and future.” They are working to preserve the rich Haitian culture of the past, provide for the physical needs right now, and as a final step, look to the future to build a sustainable community.