A spectacular evening was had at the annual Life without Lupus Gala at the Ameican Museum of Natural History on Monday November 25th, 2013.
The evening started off with an open bar and hors d’oeuvres which was passed around in the foyer of the Museum. The foyer is huge and got crowded pretty quickly. No less than 700 people attended this gorgeous gala and the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation was able to raise over 2 million dollars for support of Lupus patients and research.
The night’s honorees were Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Simona and Jerome Chazen. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg received the Distinguished Public Health Leadership Award. For his short visit at the gala Mayor Bloomberg spoke a few words about his long time as mayor and what he was most proud of. The Mayor was most proud of the efforts he had done for the public health sector and he could now proudly say that the average life of a New Yorker is now 3 years longer than it was in 2000. He is also proud of the fact that traffic fatalities are at a record low and have not been this low since 1916.
Simona and Jerome Chazen received the SLE Lupus Foundation 2013 Honorees reward for their long time support of the foundation and their determination to find answers for the disease.
Jessye Norman was awarded the Honorary Gala Chair. The host of the evening was NBC-TV’s TODAY show co-host Willie Geist. Entertainment was magnificent and was started off with the live auction which was conducted by the funny C.K. Swett of Heritage Auctions and the entertainment ended with the legendary and 9 times Grammy awards winner Wynton Marsalis.
It as an evening with big names and names from the entertainment world such as Former Governor Mario Cuomo and Former First Lady Matilda Cuomo, New York Senator Diane Savino: First Deputy Mayer Patricia E. Harris, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelley and Shamicka Lawrence from Hollywood Exes.
The SLE Lupus Foundation is the country’s preeminent organization for people suffering from Lupus. The Foundation provides services to support patients with Lupus, educate about the auto-immune disease and does extensive research. Last night’s Gala is the biggest fundraising event for Lupus in the world and therefore has a special meaning for everyone involved.
– Line
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