Audubon Young Members 2015 Spring Benefit At The Bowery Hotel Rooftop

Audubon New York Young Members hosted an epic benefit last night at the Bowery Hotel Rooftop.

The philanthropic soiree featured an open bar, hors d'oeuvres, and silent auction filled with art, entertainment, travel, beauty, and fashion items.

Host Committee included:
Arielle Patrick, Chair
Martin Ambrose, Elizabeth Baker, Samantha Chin, Alexander Cook, Stephanie Cozzi, Rich Cummings, Wael Alexander Davis, Christina Eberli, Juliet Falchi, Kate Falchi, Grant Ginsberg, Winnie Lewis, Jenna Manula, Carolyn Niemann, Meg Niemann, Dominic Pepper, Joshua Pino, Adrienne Rudkin, Patricia Ruiz-Healy, Peter Stamm, James Tierney Tang and Jenny Zeckendorf.

The benefit raised nearly $30,000 through tickets sales and silent auction items.

100% of that money will go toward Audubon New York's important conservation, education, policy and advocacy work that aims to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.

Specifically, the money raised will help fund the ‘Lights Out’ program. Every year, billions of birds migrate north in the spring and south in the fall. Most fly at night. As they pass over big cities on their way, they can become disoriented by bright lights, especially those on buildings and other structures that reach high into the sky directly in their path. Millions die.

Lights Out is a national effort to reduce this problem. The strategy is simple: By convincing building owners and managers to turn off excess lighting during the months migrating birds are flying overhead, the intiative helps to provide them safe passage between their nesting and wintering grounds.

To learn more and donate visit: www.audubon.org 

Arielle Patrick, Chair of Audubon New York Young Members and Alex Cook, an active host committee member graciously extended an invitation for me to be a part of the evening. I’ve known Arielle and Alex for some time now and it’s always exciting to see their extensive philanthropic endeavors come to life.  

With them was Juliet Falchi, founder of Audubon New York Young members and donor. The Falchi family donated a slew of their gorgeous luxury accessories to the evening’s silent auction.

It was such a pleasure to meet Juliet Falchi. She was so nice and I completely adored her outfit! I told her how much I loved the handbag she was carrying. Of course she replied that it was made by Carlos Falchi.

My own outfit for the event was also thoroughly planned out. I wore one of my favorite Topshop flower dresses and accessorized with a golden leaf headpiece and matching leaf earrings to go along with the evening's theme of nature.

One of my favorite looks from the night was definitely Arielle Patrick’s. Ms. Patrick wore a Dee Hutton ‘Deville Dress’. The gorgeous piece had a fitted sleeveless bodice with a plunging leather & piqué v neck and full pleated silk charmeuse skirt. She completed the look with elegant heels by Andrew Kayla.

After catching up with more friends I went to get a quick bite at the food table. Naturally, the foodie in me couldn’t possibly pass up a tasting of the awesome hors d'oeuvres!

Next it came time for the brief speech portion of the evening. Arielle Patrick thanked everyone for coming out to support the cause and introduced Juliet Falchi who founded Audubon’s Young Members circle.

Juliet mentioned that she started the group in 2008 after the Gulf Oil spill. Juliet explained, “A few of my friends were so disheartened by that experience that we wanted to do something about it so we had a benefit event and it was really successful. So we said let’s keep this going and we wanted to usher in a new generation of conservationists. This group was really important to me and my entire family, including my father (Carlos Falchi). He passed away recently and he just loved this group and despite being over the forty cut off age for joining membership he would come to every single event. Before he passed away he asked that donations be made to this group in his name so he could see this continue to grow and thrive.”

Erin Crotty, Executive Director of Audubon New York came to speak next. Erin started with thanking the benefit committee, specifically Arielle Patrick and Alex Cook for their support. She continued to thank Juliet Falchi for founding the Young Benefits group for Audubon New York. “Audubon is all about protecting birds in their habitats and we can’t thank you enough for being here today. The theme for tonight is 'Light’s Out' and you might be wondering why? We’re in the beginning of Spring migration and birds use constellations in order to migrate and it turns out that buildings in really big cities that have outdoor lighting can mess up their migration. We encourage building owners in New York City in partnership with the NY Audubon to turn their lights out”, said Erin. 

After the speeches I went to take a look at the exciting silent auction items. One of my favorites in addition to all of the gorgeous Carlos Falchi accessories were the above Christian Louboutin spiked heels. Anyone who knows me can tell you how much I adore spiked heels!

I couldn’t resist taking a quick peek of the picturesque outdoor patio at the Bowery Hotel rooftop. The weather last night was frigid cold despite it finally being Spring so I only stayed outside for a few minutes.

My Attorney friend Gene came with me to assist with taking lots of the awesome photos you see in this post. We were both freezing after being outside on the patio so we quickly went to grab a drink to warm up. ☺ 

I was so excited to catch up with my friend Jenna Manula. Jenna was one of the amazing host committee members for Audubon New York Young Members who diligently assisted in making the evening such a success. 

Next I ran into my lovely friend who's an equal social butterfly! Last time I saw her was at the Kipling event a few weeks ago so it was nice to catch up again.

Before heading out I had the pleasure of running into my friend Luis and his friend Lydia. They looked like such a stylish duo, Luis with his dapper white suit and colorful pocket square and Lydia with her vintage Vera Wang dress and classic pearls. 

Thank you Alex, Arielle and the entire Audubon New York group for including me in such a memorable and exciting evening. Check out the rest of the photos below!