Dan's Papers - August 7, 2009

This past Saturday, the back roads were bumper to bumper thanks to savvy shoppers who were racing over to Nova's Ark Project in Watermill to scour the 12th Annual Super Saturday event. The highly anticipated designer garage sale hosted by Donna Karan, Ariel Foxman and In-Style, Kelly Ripa and Blake Lively, raised 3.4 million dollars to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF). The VIP guest list included several noteworthy names including Lorraine Bracco, Mark Consuelos, Patrick Demarchelier, Edie Falco, Judith and Rudy Giuliani, Gayle King, Dina, Ali and Cody Lohan, Fern Mallis, Thalia and Tommy Mottola, Kelly Rutherford, Russell Simmons, Beth Ostrosky Stern, Bella Thorn, Aida Turturro, Kerry Washington, Barbara Walters, Caitlin Carmichael and Rachel Zoe. Donna Karan arrived with her daughter Gaby and grandbabies by her side. The famous designer reminisced, "We planted the seed 13 years ago in Liz Tilberis' back yard, who was dealing with Ovarian cancer at the time. We created a system where we bring a community together that wants to make a change and a difference." The world famous shopping event was a first for "Gossip Girl" star, Blake Lively. The natural beauty was thrilled to be a part of the festivities and boasted, "This is a way for people to spend their money and give to something that's good and that matters." Lively told me she is currently shooting a film with an all star cast, "I have a film coming out on October 23, called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. I play a young Robin Wright Penn (Pippa Lee) alongside Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Julianne Moore."

Everyone's favorite morning talk show host, Kelly Ripa, arrived with her business and life partner, hubby Mark Consuelos. The love birds have attended the big event every year since 2003 and are gearing up for the premiere of a series their production company produced called "Masters of Reception" on TLC on Aug. 18. Next to family and her career, Ripa is obviously super committed to the cause and shared, "It just means a lot to us that they would even have us back and that I would even be considered good enough to stand here and talk to everyone that is here donating their time to this." It seemed like all the VIPs were a bit more humbled by the cause this year. Some famous faces even took the extra time to share their personal connection to cancer. Judith and Rudy Giuliani arrived hand in hand. Judith admitted, "Rudy is a nine-year cancer survivor. He had prostate cancer a while back. We make sure to support." Rudy revealed, "It's at first very shocking when you hear the word cancer, but then you realize how many possibilities there are for curing it, for arresting it. You think back to 30 years ago when cancer was a death sentence. She got me through it. You need somebody to help you."

With so much in life to celebrate, I asked the former mayor if he plans to run for Governor. He laughed and replied, "Good segue from health to politics, very well connected now with the health care bill. We'll look at it a little bit later when we get closer in time and see who's running, who isn't running. We'll decide it then." Some of the stars behind the scenes were Cherie Christmas, CEO of MAXX New York, Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin with OCRF and the hundreds of dedicated OCRF volunteers including Lexi Green, Alexis Conason, Teena Metternich, Martitess Manaluz, Meredith Martin and Alice Bader who dedicated their time and efforts to make this event a super success.

Until next week: Life is short, you only live once, so party on!

TV Host, Entertainment & Feature Correspondent, Director, Writer and Executive Producer, Gina Glickman can be seen Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends hosting News 12 Long Island's "What's Hot in the Hamptons."