Stores Stage Holiday Benefits
It’s not all take from the shops these holidays. There’s a lot of give too.
Neiman Marcus, Gump’s, Tiffany & Co., Giorgio, Hammacher Schlemmer, Saks and I. Magnin are only a few of the stores that have dipped into their pockets and their public-relations budgets this holiday season to aid charities.
At the recent Earl Blackwell dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel, for the Southern California chapter of the American Parkinson’s Disease Assn., Tiffany endorsed the cause by providing sterling ballpoint pen table favors. At a cocktail party Tiffany hosted at 210 N. Rodeo Drive in November for CHIPS, to benefit Children’s Institute International, an Ibex diamond and ruby brooch designed by Jean Schlumberger was donated for the charity raffle planned by Jenny Rutt.
Sunday night, Neiman Marcus created the elegant ambience for the National Kidney Foundation, producing designer Bob Mackie and sensational decor to help raise $200,000.
Hammacher Schlemmer staged an evening of “Sharing gifts that bring hope for tomorrow, joy for today” and allowed SHARE Inc. to take 10% of proceeds from sales at an early December cocktail party at the store. Through the season, it will also donate a percentage of proceeds from sales of six products to charities: hand-painted umbrellas help children with AIDS; gourmet dog treats support a Westport, Conn., project that provides animal companions for the elderly; gourmet gift baskets benefit the Betty Clooney Foundation for the Brain Injured; a pin designed by Susan Cummings helps American Indian programs. An Earth-awareness tree ornament and a child’s chair are also tied to charities.
The Junior League of Los Angeles benefited from a similar event at Giorgio Beverly Hills. Last week, 100 came for cocktails and hors d’ouevres provided by Giorgio, with the agreement that the retailer would give 10% of the night’s sales to the league and its projects, including adolescent pregnancy prevention and services for organ transplant patients. As a surprise, Giorgio upped the ante to 20%.
As for Berkeley Hall School, advocates simply wanted a nice place to stage a party honoring donors who have contributed nearly $750,000 toward the Harold W. Siebens Foundation Million Dollar Challenge Grant. “Gump’s didn’t charge us a penny,” said trustees president Caroline Kuhn.
Gump’s, in fact, has been a leader in the concept of calculated generosity. For the third year, it has decorated two of its windows on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills for the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. One houses puppies; the other, kittens. Pam Kensinger of the society said, “This has offered us the opportunity to offer pets for adoption as well as contact a new audience.”
When the society hosted its “Baubles, Bangles, Puppies and Purrs” reception for the Gump’s windows, the society paid for the party. However, Gump’s offered the group space to sell fabric and terra-cotta dogs and cats.
For the Junior League’s “Ooh La L.A.!” benefit at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Gump’s, Tiffany and Neiman Marcus all hosted parties in their stores to honor the league. Gump’s spent $26,000 on the cause and provided red silk picture frames and pocket calendars for table favors.
Kirk Gerou, Southern California manager of Gump’s, said, “Absolutely, it’s worth it. . . . It’s hard to measure (the value) in true dollars, but I can tell you my business is way up this month, and I think it’s because we’ve been so involved. For instance, the day before the Junior League party, a woman walked in and said she wanted to thank us for supporting the league causes. She bought a $2,000 piece of jewelry.”
Said Ann Zimmerman of the league, “Our women do 100,000 hours (of volunteering) a year, and a lot of them shop at Neiman Marcus, Tiffany and Gump’s. I think the stores think by helping us they’re helping the community.”
PAST PERFECT: During the past decade, Les Amies has raised $370,000 for the Children’s Institute International and abused children. It was music and dancing time at the Bistro Garden for the holiday dazzler staged by Margo Hirsh and attended by president Isabelle Little, Coco Viault and Jo Fisher. Guests brought toys for the youngsters . . . .
Herb Alpert came home to his alma mater--USC--to be honored by the USC Friends of Music at the Charles Dickens feast in the Biltmore’s Crystal Ballroom. Alpert and his wife, Lani, saluted the Herb Alpert Merit Scholars (25 scholars endowed by Alpert). Martha Newman Ragland was honorary dinner chair . . . .
Gretchen Wayne, Toni Wayne LaCava and Joyce Green, executive director of the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, gave heartfelt thanks to 300 benefactors at the black-tie dinner at Jimmy’s Restaurant in Beverly Hills . . . .
The glittery gourmet dinner at the Biltmore created by some of Los Angeles’ top French chefs raised $100,000 to help expand the emergency department at California Medical Center downtown. French Consul General Gerard Coste kicked off festivities with a toast to the 1991 Beaujolais nouveau. It was jetted in, compliments of Air France.
