Palm Beach Philanthropy is Back

While much of South Florida enjoys a reputation for beautiful beaches and equally beautiful bodies strutting up and down those beaches, Palm Beach stands apart, boasting a much more refined reputation reserved for some of the world’s most affluent society members. And as everyone knows, one of the biggest components of life as an elite socialite involves philanthropy.

The Palm Beach charity circuit is one of the most influential in the country, spanning the winter months of November through March. A benefit ball can cost upwards of $300,000 to put on and can draw some of the wealthiest philanthropists in America. Such was the case on Friday night when Geri and Frank Morrow hosted the Alzheimer’s Community Care Black Tie Ball at Donald Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago. Though they chose to forgo fresh cut flowers this year, all reports indicate that “pre-Madoff” displays of wealth are slowly starting to reemerge in the form of a four-course seated dinner that included lobster and quail. More than 500 well-heeled guests boogied on the dance floor (if they even allow that in Palm Beach) to the “Hot Latin Rhythms” theme. They goal for the evening was to raise more than $600,000 for the nonprofit.

It should be noted that in a comment posted on a local blog, the chairwoman herself, Geri Morrow, kindly thanked blogger Jose Lambiet for the compliment of estimating that her benefit cost between $300,000-$500,000 to put on, but corrected his numbers by indicating that the total for the event was approximately one-third of that.