I attended the Silver Hill Hospital Gala, which was a beautiful event for a wonderful cause. Neil Sedaka performed and guests included Inga Rubenstein, Tamara Mellon, Dana Hammond, Debbie Bancroft, Joan Collins, Mikey and Paula Schulhof, Diana Taylor, Amy Phaelan, Karen Luter, Bettina Zihlka, Emily Smith, Daysii Olarte de Kanavos, Coco Rocha, Somers Farkas, Alexandra Lebenthal, Amy Fine Collins, Lydia Fenet and Nicki Haskall.
Also there was Dennis Basso and Michael Cominato who were the honorary co-chairs of the evening. I talked to Michael about his involvement with Silver Hill and he said, “After my stay at SHH I became a volunteer. I started out telling my story to other residents as a sign of hope for them, and to make them know their situation was not everlasting, and with hard work, therapy, and modern medicine they too would lead happy healthy lives again.
I saw how many couldn’t t afford to stay after the hospitalization and decided to produce a gala in NYC to raise money for a scholarship program for Adolescence and young adults, and to raise awareness of mental illness/addiction, and help to erase the stigma associated with it.
That was three years ago, and we raised $1.3 million. The President and medical director asked me to join the board of directors, which I did and sit on two committees: Quality of patient care and Development. They named one of our five residential houses “Michael’s House”. Now I go every Tuesday and volunteer at Michael’s House. Sometimes we make big lunches together and then sit and enjoy the fruits of labor…and just talk. My intention is to give them hope for a better tomorrow.
