I got invited to Charity:Ball which is the huge annual ball for Charity:Water (www.charitywater.org). I had never attended any of their events and had always been dying to go. I’ve been a fan of Scott Harrison, who is the founder. Talk about a real life role model. He created this charity drilling for clean water in developing countries and is currently drilling in 13 countries. There’s alot to be said for a human like this. Someone that is looking out for people other than his own. Anyways, it was absolutely moving and so many celebs and uncelebs alike showed up to support this cause.

Coincidentally, my buddy, Master Mixologist Alex Ott asked me if he could make one of his fancy cocktails using African Moringa for the event, since his Menu was themed on Africa. I was beyond excited and humbled because I hadn’t even envisioned that. He made this drink called “the aquifer” with palm wine, fresh white grapes. fresh lychees, moringa tea (yay!) and lemon juice. It was a huge hit!

There were about 500 people and I loved that they didn’t have a full dinner. It always throws me off when charity events spend so much. Anyways, they had so many volunteers that worked on installing wall to wall pictures of their projects. You basically got to mingle and walk around the Metropolitan Pavillion seeing what this charity does. Scott, movingly told us real life stories of the people in the pictures and what change bringing something we take for granted, like clean water creates in their lives. They had this cool thing where they built a runway but instead of models, anyone was allowed to walk the runway and carry these jerrycans of water and for each one carried, they donated $40. I managed carrying 2 of them in the picture. I loved that. Basically, if you didn’t have mad cash to donate or not able to buy a well (5K), you could carry some water and money would go to the cause. How innovatively cool is that!

Oh, on a vanity point, my friend Laura Bennett whom I modeled for on Project Runway let me borrow the most beautiful dress. I had Ostrich feathers from my waist dow. Ps. the feathers were picked from the ground, not plucked from the birdie. Anyways, it was a masterpiece. Laura, being the perfectionist she is insisted I wear the Malnolos and when I hesitated, she said “This dress comes with these shoes.”

www.timmorehouse. wordpress.com wrote about Charity Water:

“As Adrian  Grenier guided the program, our friend Richie Rich drank his “bubbles” and brought his usual cheer, “The Hills” actors Whitney Port and Olivia Palermo scmoozed as cameras for their new show “The City” tagged along, model Camilla Barungi educated others about the benefits of the African Moringa supplement, designer Keith Lissner mingled with other fashion forwards, and our favorite crew of Scott, Naeem, Liam McMullan and Lydia Hearst surveyed the scene.”