City Harvest Gala Raises Enough Money To Provide 10 Million Meals

The 2024 City Harvest Gala was a giant success as over 600 guests filled Cipriani’s elegant event venue on 42nd Street in Manhattan on April 10. The special occasion honored award-winning superstar and activist John Legend and New York Mets Owner Alex Cohen for their continued philanthropy and support of the city’s largest food rescue organization. Notable residents and celebrities came together to raise money for New Yorkers in need, many of whom continue to grapple with the high costs of rent, food, and other necessities.

With “Magic of Motown” as the theme of the night, and the event space decked out in bright décor organized by celebrity event planner Colin Cowie, guests poured in with colorful, festive “fits”. Actor Taye Diggs served as host with humor and charm then passed the torch, later in the evening, to auctioneer extraordinaire, Harry Santa-Ollala who encouraged bidders to give everything they could for the city’s residents in need.

Both Legend and Cohen have been instrumental in supporting City Harvest’s food rescue and delivery work over the years; they’ve helped the organization sustain operations above pre-pandemic levels in response to the need for food assistance. According to City Harvest staff, Legend’s “deep commitment, has helped provide millions of meals to New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet.” Furthermore, “Alex Cohen gifted the organization a $20 million donation from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation in 2021, which funded the establishment of a new headquarters for its food rescue and delivery operations in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.” The Cohens have been involved with City Harvest since 2009.

Additionally, The Cohen Community Food Rescue Center empowers City Harvest to rescue, store, and distribute twice as much food across the five boroughs and ensures that the organization will be able to continue distributing nutritious food for free to New Yorkers for decades to come. As City Harvest’s first neighborhood sponsor in 2018, the Foundation’s grant funded all deliveries of rescued food in the Washington Heights and Inwood Manhattan neighborhoods, including City Harvest’s two Mobile Markets there, providing residents with 2 million pounds of free nutritious food a year.

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation also supported City Harvest’s COVID-19 response work with multiple gifts throughout the pandemic to ensure the organization could elevate operations as the number of New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity across the city surged alongside the pandemic. “I am grateful to the hundreds of supporters who joined us in honoring John Legend and Alex Cohen at City Harvest’s annual Gala,” said Jilly Stephens, CEO of City Harvest. “Visits to soup kitchens and food pantries across the five boroughs are almost as high as they were at any point during the pandemic, and are actually increasing compared to last year. The critical funds we raised will allow us to provide free, nutritious food to the millions of New Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on their tables.”

All Stars

Some of the Celebrities in Attendance, included Chrissy Teigen who received the same honor six years prior (2018); longtime City Harvest supporter and board member, Eric Ripert; Food Network hosts, Gail Simmons, Geoffrey Zakarian, Ted Allen, and Tom Colicchio; Architect, David Rockwell; Actors, Jane Krakowski, Richard Gere, Busy Philipps, Jean Reno; Chefs Christophe Bellanca, Emma Bengtsson, Markus Glocker, Vikas Khanna, Alfred Portale, Stefano Secchi, ; Restauranteurs, Alain Allegretti, Donatella Arpaia, Terrance Brennan, Simon Kim, Cedric and Ochi Vongerichten, Basu Ratnam; TV Personality, Tayshia Adams; Actress/Model, Yaya DaCosta, Ubah Hassan; Food Personalities, Eitan Bernath and Priyanka Naik; You Tuber, Desus Nice; Violinist, Philippe Quint and Joshua Bell; Artist/Director, Cey Adams; Mixologist, Cody Goldstein; Editor, Jake Cohen; and ICE President, Rick Smilow.

On the Auction Table

The auction was led by Harry Santa-Olalla who rallied guests around the tremendous items:

—A “Top Chef” Dinner Cooked By Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and New Host Kristen Kish. This unique opportunity is for an exclusive four-course dinner for 20, prepared by the reigning “Top Chef” judging trio and includes a Cardinal DuFour Armagnac tasting, featuring a one-of-a-kind bottle painted by American artist Shane Guffogg. The epicurean experience raised enough to feed nearly 280,000 New Yorkers in need.

—Chrissy Teigen was one of two recipients of a dinner party for 20 guests with globally renowned culinary superstar Chef Vikas Khanna of Bungalow. The auction lot doubled, together raising enough to feed more than 580,000 New Yorkers in need.

—Dinner for 20 with Chef Markus Glocker, the highly-esteemed pedigreed powerhouse known for his New York Times three-starred restaurant, Koloman, and his James Beard award-winning Michelin-starred run at Bâtard. The intimate dinner party will include an all-star food and wine team, including the renowned Chefs Laurent Gras, Max Natmessnig of Brooklyn Fare, Gotham Restaurant’s Ron Paprocki, and Christopher Engel of Café Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie, along with the illustrious Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier of Chambers and Koloman’s distinguished beverage director, Katja Scharnagl, formerly of Le Bernardin. The evening will include live musical performances by world-renowned classical musicians Joshua Bell and Philippe Quint. The auction lot raised enough to feed more than 313,000 New Yorkers in need.

—Tasting Tour of Toscana with Chef Stefano Secchi, of Michelin-starred Rezdôra in New York City. The winner, along with seven guests, will be taken on a four-night journey to discover the exquisite cuisines of Dario Cecchini, Antica Macelleria Cecchini, and Fabbio Picchi, amongst many more, while learning about the varied selection of wine in the region. The experience raised enough to feed more than 523,000 New Yorkers in need.

—Chef Eric Ripert, the master of seafood, will host a private dinner, which will include a special private performance by John Legend, for 20 lucky guests. The legendary evening raised enough to feed more than 1.8 million New Yorkers in need.

As bidding wrapped for the night, Legend began singing ‘All of Me’, giving guests a special treat on top of an already remarkable night for City Harvest and for New York.