A Record-Breaking Evening for Delivering Good Celebrating Leadership and Excellence – Past and Present

The Organization Launched its “Small Comforts, Big Impact” Campaign and Introduced the Basic Comforts Pack as a Critical Resource in Disaster Recovery.

NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, October 30, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- National nonprofit Delivering Good celebrated its annual fundraising event last night, raising more than $1.4 M from sponsors and attendees including nearly $100,000 from the auction and paddle raise appeal. Almost 500 guests filled New York City’s iconic Gotham Hall to celebrate the careers and legacies of the honoree slate. This year’s honorees highlighted leadership and excellence in fashion, technology, education, and philanthropy with a program that focused on the big impact of small gestures, while highlighting the rich history of support that the organization has enjoyed since its founding over 3 decades ago.

The 2024 Evening of Delivering Good event opened with a clear statement of purpose when Delivering Good President and CEO, Matthew Fasciano took to the podium joined by model and Delivering Good Brand Ambassdor, Daiane Sodre. Addressing the attendees, Matthew Fasciano said, “Your presence and continued support of our mission mean the world to us. We’re incredibly grateful to have such a dedicated community of partners, donors, and friends who believe in the power of Delivering Good to create real change.” He continued, “With the recent hurricanes, Delivering Good has teamed up with local organizations in the hardest-hit areas of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas to deliver essential supplies like socks, blankets, clothing, home goods, and more. Our mission is to provide immediate relief while restoring a sense of dignity to those affected by these devastating events.”

In driving home the evening’s theme of small comforts, big impact, Daiane Sodre said, “Tonight is more than just a celebration, it's a testament to the incredible impact we can make when we come together as a community. Whether it’s a new pair of shoes, warm clothing, or household essentials, we all know that small comforts can make a world of difference, especially during life’s toughest moments.”

Delivering Good’s Chair, and Founder and CEO of The O Alliance, Andrea Weiss, spoke to the audience about the 39 year history of the organization and highlighted the incredible success of several of Delivering Good’s ongoing programs like the “One Million Bras Campaign” began last year, which is well on its way to achieving its goal with 489,659 bras already collected from partners like American Eagle and Aerie, the “Million Pair of Socks Campaign” that has raised over 12 million pairs since it began in 2016, with 450,000 pairs in the last year alone from Bombas. Other programs are in motion at the moment with stalwart partners like Ralph Lauren and Burlington who are some of the organizations most generous supporters, as well as general donations, all of which added up to 10 million units of new product, valued at over $146 million in the past year alone.

Matthew Fasciano returned to speak about the latest drive the organization is embarking upon, the Basic Comforts Pack, an individually packaged box that includes a variety of items that are needed to get a person back on their feet immediately following a disaster. “Tonight, we’re excited to preview our Basic Comforts Pack with you all. Developed to address the fundamental needs in crisis situations, the Basic Comforts Pack plays a crucial role in restoring dignity and offering a starting point for recovery, whether after a natural disaster or during ongoing economic hardship,” said Fasciano.

The evenings first honor, was presented by Allan Ellinger, a Founder of Fashion Delivers, which later merged with K.I.D.S. to become Delivering Good, who presented the Inaugural Luminary Award to the iconic John Pomerantz, former President, CEO, and retired Chairman of the Board of Leslie Fay. Paraphrasing one of his favorite poems by Linda Ellis, Ellinger said, “It’s not the date you were born, or the date that you die that matters. What matters is the dash between those years and how much you make that dash count. I think we can all agree, John’s dash has got to be an enormous one.” The audience was further wowed when the honoree himself, John Pomerantz, who was supposed to accept his award from his table, made his way to the stage to accept the award and offer some brief, inspiring words.

Next came the Delivering Good Innovation Award, which was bestowed upon Prashant Agrawal, Founder and CEO of tech giant Impact Analytics. Mr. Agrawal was introduced by Ben Pivar, the Chief Information Officer of Carter’s. “Prashant is a true innovator,” said Ben Pivar. “A decade ago, he decided to enter a very competitive marketplace of inventory optimization for large enterprises. He did so with a disruptive approach of bringing artificial intelligence to a sector that was in need of innovation. He has grown the company exponentially and they are now one of the hottest software companies in the market, as recognized by Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times and the Inc 5000.”

Brieane Olson, the CEO of PacSun was next to the podium to accept the honor of The Delivering Good Impact Award, one of the event’s most celebrated annual awards. “We are committed to using our platform to create meaningful change, and I am so honored to receive the Impact award this evening as it reflects the dedication of our entire team, partners, and most importantly, our customers who share our passion for giving back,” said Brieane. She then went on to share a touching story of how Pacsun has been instrumental in getting laundry rooms built in public schools in Los Angeles, where attendance in the schools with the facilities has seen strong increases as students are now not embarrassed by having to come to school in soiled clothing.

The program continued with auctioneer Chris Hanke who led an appeal to fund a variety of needs for the organization, with the newly announced Basic Comforts Pack taking the center stage of this effort, before the event broke for dinner.

The second half of the program began with a thank you to the evenings long list of sponsors and Gala Committee members, including Michael Kors, who dressed the evening’s emcees.

As the awards and acceptance speeches began once again, the first up was the Vanguard Award given to Dr. Joyce Brown, President of Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) by Suzie Pomerantz Davis and Andrea Pomerantz Lustig, daughters of Lisa and John Pomerantz. In her acceptance, Dr. Brown remarked on her lifelong commitment to education and how knowledge plays an integral role in shaping our industry and society as a whole.

The final presenter of the evening was Adam Doneger, Executive Vice Chair of U.S. Capital Markets at Newmark, who presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to his father, Abbey Doneger, President and CEO of Doneger Tobe. As the room was reminded earlier by Allan Ellinger, Abbey Doneger was an early supporter of the efforts of Fashion Delivers and his commitment to the mission has never waned, to this very day.

Abbey shared highlights of his lifetime in the world of fashion buying and trend forecasting, including the honor he had to work along side his father, who founded his company for 22 years at the beginning of his career. “It was in 1973, in a discussion with my father Henry, during my college spring vacation, at a time when I had no idea what I was going to do upon graduating from the University of Massachusetts in May, when I asked my father if I could join his company,” Doneger recalls. “Well, here we are, a mere 51+ years later. It seems to have worked out OK, although I clearly don’t know where the 51 years have gone.”

The event concluded with Matthew Fasciano and Daiane Sodre congratulating all the evening’s honorees and making a final appeal for donations.

The 2024 Evening of Delivering Good was generously underwritten by the following sponsors: Accenture, Impact Analytics, Komar, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Saks OFF 5th, Burlington Stores, Inc. , CIT Commercial Services, Doneger | Tobe, EiR NYC, FIT Foundation, Flagstar, G-III Apparel Group, Haddad Brands, Meijer, Mission Every One Macy’s, NRF Foundation, The O Alliance, Perry Ellis International, Ross Stores, Ralph Lauren, RSM US LLP, Solomon Partners, The TJX Companies, United Legwear & Apparel Co., Wonder Brands, Alo Yoga, Golden Touch Imports, Inc., Hung Hing Metal Manufactory Limited, KnitWell, Milberg Factors, Paramount, Randa Accessories Leather Goods, Skaden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, PVH Corp., Adams & Company, Betesh Group, Biworld Merchandising, Davd M. Franco, Goldbug, Inc., Ground Up International LLC, Ken Pilot, Marshall Mizrahi, Michael Kors, Michael Sklar, Quentin Pell, Rick Darling, Ripple Junction, Robert Kaplan, Robin Burns-McNeill, Steve Hanon, Steve Sadove. Florals were provided complements of: Avenue J Florist

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