Close to 200 people braved the rain on Thursday to attend a cocktail party at the home of Gary and Donna Greenfield in Potomac. Along with Carolyn Callahan Keller and Tiffany Delgado, the Greenfields hosted a lively party that lasted into the night and resulted in a 140-bottle wine collection for what they call "The Buddy Cellar." Each guest arrived with a special bottle of wine to donate to the "Buddy Cellar," which will then be auctioned at the eighteenth annual Best Buddies Ball on Oct. 28 at the Potomac home of Eunice and Sargent Shriver.
Best Buddies is an organization that provides opportunities for one-to-one friendships between college and high school students and people with intellectual disabilities. Anthony Shriver founded Best Buddies while he was a student at Georgetown University. Today, there are approximately 1300 chapters throughout the country and the world and they impact more than 300,00 individuals. This year’s event, called The Tzedakah Ball, will help establish a new chapter in Israel.
Pennie Abramson and Annie Totah, both of Potomac, are co-chairs of the Best Buddies Israel Founders Committee, organized to help recruit individuals interested in establishing Best Buddies Israel and to raise $300,000 a year for three years for a Best Buddies Leadership Fund. To date, the committee consists of Faith and Phillip Bobrow, Katie and David Colburn, Myer Feldman, Howard and Chaya Friedman, Myrtle and Cyrus Katzen, Debi and Joel Meisel, and the Kathryn and Abe Selsky Foundation.
The upcoming Best Buddies Ball will honor "CSI: Miami" star and board member David Caruso with the Spirit of Leadership Award for his work in the organization. He became involved with Best Buddies through his daughter, Greta, a participant in the Yale University chapter.
The black tie auction and ball will feature dinner and dancing in the "big tent" on the Shriver lawn with special musical guest Blondie. In past years, approximately 800 guests supported the event, including Olympic Gold Medalist Carl Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Robert De Niro, Kevin Spacey and many "buddies."
The auction, chaired by Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Carole Dell, will feature a visit to the set of "CSI: Miami" with Caruso, a 2005 Harley Davidson Soft Tail motorcycle donated by Beckie and Rick Kay of Potomac, a four-night stay at Canyon Ranch spa secured by Debbie Rales, a trip to Paris with tickets to two haute couture fashion shows in January and tickets to "American Idol," to name a few.