Cold in New York
by David Patrick Columbia
Photos by Jeffrey Hirsch
newyorksocialdiary.com

http://newyorksocialdiary.com/socialdiary/2007/02_07_07/socialdiary02_07_07.php

Monday night was the Citizens Committee for New York City’s New Yorker for New York Awards Gala in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf.

This was a black tie affair and there were several hundred attending including many luminaries although it is not so much a glamorous event as a celebration of what people can do for their community.  The organization was born out of crisis (see NYSD Philanthropy coverage) more than 30 years ago and it remains a powerful force of good in this enormous metropolis which many call their hometown. 

Besides the dinner and the speeches and the awards, Peter Duchin and his orchestra played and there was dancing. (Duchin played last night also at the Botanical evening at the Rainbow Room).

Honorees were Jonathan Capehart who was presented with the Jacob Javits Young Philanthropist Award. You can read about Jonathan on The List although it’s in need of serious updating because next week he moves to Washington where he’s joined the Editorial Board of the Washington Post. In 1999 when Jonathan was on the Editorial Board of the New York Daily News, he won a Pulitzer. He was just a kid then. To some of us, he still is. He has a modest, though forthright demeanor so that you can easily forget that he’s a very accomplished and influential fellow who believes in doing whatever he can to move along the process of opportunity for others.

Osborn Elliott, one of the founders of the Citizens Committee, seeing the crowd said from the podium: “You look like a million.” (They raised a million Monday night.)  He introduced Pete Hamill who was receiving the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Medal for Lifetime Public Service.

If you don’t know about Pete Hamill, you haven’t lived in New York for very long. He’s one of those characters who’s known in a variety of ways, and all interesting, no matter your interest.  Editor of both the Daily News, and the New York Post (at different times of course), reporter, novelist, memoirist, he once dated Jackie Kennedy (before she married Onassis), and is an authentic voice of New York.

When making his acceptance speech he talked about growing up in Brooklyn. He recounted the time his mother brought him and his little brother (9 and 7, they were) to Times Square on the subway. This was 1942. They were going to see the Normandie, the former luxury liner that had had a fire at its pier and was floating on its side.

Walking along the sidewalk of 42nd Street heading toward the River, they saw a homeless man, disheveled and ashambles, lying in a doorway. Amused by the sight, the boys pointed and mocked the man. To which their mother sternly grabbed their hands and reprimanded: “don’t you ever look down on someone unless you are lending them a hand to get up!”

Therein lay the forming of a consciousness that defined a life.

That, Mr. Hamill added, was the objective of the work of the Citizens Committee. And the rest of us too, if we’re paying attention.

The great Martina Arroyo of the Metropolitan Opera received the Elizabeth Chapin Award for Volunteers in the Arts.  Lisa Schiff was awarded the Brooke Russell Astor Award for Philanthropy.  Lisa is chairman of the board of Jazz @ Lincoln Center and herself a recording impresario as Managing Director and owner of After Nine Music, a label specializing in jazz, popular music, Broadway, easy listening and cabaret. She is also an active member of the board of the Animal Medical Center and president of the Youth Counseling League, a division of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, where she also serves as a member of the board. But that’s not the half of it. Lisa’s a doer and she’s out there. Her husband David, an investment banker, is also chairman of the Wildlife Conservation Society. They have three children, Ashley, who is a major fundraiser for Jazz @ Lincoln Center,  Scott, and Drew who is married to Karenna Gore, daughter of Tipper and Al Gore. 

Tipper Gore was also at the dinner. I hadn’t seen her in several months. She looks great. In fact she looked so svelte and young I didn’t recognize her at first.