What a Sunday afternoon in East Hampton: actress Maria Bello, about to blow everyone away in the American TV version of “Prime Suspect,” organized a hot event in a cool space for Haiti fundraising at the Ross School. Donna Karan and Urban Zen helped sponsor the music and art get together for Maria’s WeAdvance.org charity, an outgrowth from the actress’s work on Paul Haggis‘s Artists for Peace and Justice and Sean Penn and Diana Jenkins’s JP/HRO group. Mariska Hargitay and Patricia Arquette through in their considerable help, and heavyweights like Liev Schreiber and Fisher Stevens showed up to join the fight, as well as director Doug Liman and cashmere king Christopher Fischer with his beautiful wife/partner Joni. The latter gave out their luscious scarves in the goodie bag. The highlight of the day: a knockout performance by the glorious Melky Jean, the ebullient and talented singer sister of Wyclef Jean. That is one talented family! Check out her fantastic song “Better” about Haiti at www.melkyjean.com
The other highlight: Nicole Ross, the drop dead beautiful blonde 28 year old daughter of Courtney Sale Ross and the late Steve Ross, founder of Warner Communications. The Ross School was created for Nicole when she was in grade school by her mother. That’s about 20 years ago. Now it’s a thriving educational institution. And what about Nicole? She could be a model or an actress. She could have gone the route of Paris Hilton, and made a spectacle of herself with sex tapes and DUIs. But not this amazing young lady. She’s been working in Haiti for a long time, delivering babies and organizing relief efforts. This fall she starts at NYU to become a nurse practitioner so she can really help with aid. Bravo! What a nice story. How lucky for the people of Haiti.
