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Keith Hernandez leads Star-Studded Celebrity Lineup in Fight Against Alzheimers

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

New York Hilton, 1335 Ave. of the Americas

New York Mets all star Keith Hernandez lead a team of over 600 supporters for the field of dream gala to benefit the creation of a new assisted living center for Alzheimer's care at the Cobble Hill Health Center. "My mother, Jacqueline Hernandez" said Keith Hernandez, "lost a nine-year battle with Alzheimer's disease in 1989. I served on the board of the National Alzheimer's Association since my retirement from baseball in 1991. For more than a decade, I have been associated with Cobble Hill, an outstanding facility which offers part-time care for over sixty lower-income Alzheimer's patients, thorugh its Jacqueline Hernandez adult daycare center. The daycare center provides the families of these Alzheimer's patients the assurance that their loved ones are receiving excellent, compassionate care." Hernandez has lent his support to help raise the much needed funds to expand the Cobble Hill Health Center programs, which include an adult day-care health center for people with Alzheimer's, named in memory of his mother. The Field of Dreams Gala coincides with National Alzheimer's awareness month in November.

The evening at the Hilton Hotel started off with a lovely cocktail reception, from 6:00 until 7:00pm, featuring lovely auction items such as an autographed painting of Joe Namath during his Jets years, a beautiful set of elegant necklaces, a Wayne Gretzky No. 99 Hockey Shirt, and many, many other auction items, including boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali "The Greatest". There was even a one-of-a-kind guitar which was donated by Eric Clapton, as well as artwork donated by famous artist Leroy Neiman. Special guests who attended included Kathleen Turner, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Rusty Staub, Chuck Barris (The Gong Show), Dr. Antonia Novello, Commissioner of the New York State Dept. of Health, and many more business heads and supporters of this charity.

After the cocktail reception, everyone made their way into the Grand Ballroom for a wonderful, rack of lamb dinner, featuring a generous salad, black ravioli, garnished with tender baby carrots. For dessert. there was a delightul assortment of pastries, including a white chocolate, hollowed out baseball filled with fresh fruits, accompanied by a dark chocolate baseball bat. All over were the celebrities making their mark as people approached them with baseballs, bats, catcher's mitts, magazines and other memorabilia, patiently waiting for their favorite sports celebrities to autograph.

Keith Hernandez started the evening off by introducing Ms. Olga Lipschitz, the Adminstrator of the Cobble Hill Health Center, who, as Keith puts it, is the person who is the reason why he got involved with Cobble Hill. Ms. Libschitz thanked the crowd for coming and showing their support for this very precious cause, and then proceeded to show a brief video on the strides that are being made by the Cobble Hill Health Center's Assisted Living Center for Alzheimer's victims. She made the distinction that Cobble Hill is not so much like a nursing home, but rather a home for people who need extra help in their lives due to the affect of Alzheimer's.

Next up was Warner Wolf, famous sportscaster for CBS and the emcee for the evening. Mr. Wolf cracked a few jokes, and then proceeded to a brief introduction of just about every celebrity that was in the place. Following Mr. Wolf's brief celebrity introduction was Keith's introduction of each of the honorees, one by one. Nachamah Jacobovits, the Senior Vice President of the New York Mercantile Exchange, was the first honoree. Ms Jacobovits spoke briefly as to how her work with Cobble Hill had personally changed her life. The next honoree was Joe O'Neil, Executive Vice President of the New York Board of Trade, who spoke about the wonderful work that Cobble Hill is doing for the elderly community and the impact it is having. The last honoree was Gary Carter, former New York Mets Catcher and Baseball Hall of Famer, who, in addition to thanking his wife for all of the support she shown for him throughout the years, talked about the valuable work that is taking place at the Cobble Hill Health Center. Each of the honorees received a special, beautifully wrapped gift, presented by Keith Hernandez and Olga Lipschitz, the Health Center's Administrator.

Later on, there was a live auction for some beautiful prizes, such as a week-long getaway for 10 people in a beautifully restored 19th century house in Italy. The event was a great cause for the donations that were made by the attendees.. We at Liberty News Online would like to personally thank Mr. Jack O'Dea, who is on the Cobble Hill Committee, for inviting us to cover this wonderful event. Were it not for Mr. O'Dea, it would not have been possible for us to cover this wonderful, humanitarian event.

Proceeds benefit the consturction of an Assisted Living Center at Cobble Hill Health Center. Cobble Hill Health Center, established in 1976, is one of the largest voluntary, not-for-profit multi-service nursing care facilities in New York City. Cobble Hill in Brooklyn, New York, is a leader in providing superior care and has developed new programs to anticipate and meet the diverse needs of the elderly, physically handicapped and people with Alzheimer's disease.

For more information, please feel free to log onto their website, at www.cobblehill.org. Remember Cobble Hill's motto, "Caregiving always begins with caring."

Abbey H. Muneer is the Executive Director of H.A.D. Organization of New York City, Inc., a world-famous athlete, author and, above all, a humanitarian. Abbey will write articles about charity events, benefits, fundraisers and galas which are raising money for humantiarian causes. If you are interested in having Abbey and one his staff members cover one of your charity events, benefits, fundraisers or galas, feel free to notify us one week in advance, at LNEvents@hadofnyc.org, or telephone us at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. and ask to speak to Abbey or Maria. If you would like more information, or would like to have Liberty News Online Magazine consult your next charitable event, please feel free to visit our website, at http://www.hadofnyc.org/store/success.html, email us at humanitarians@hadofnyc.org, or telephone our hotline, at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. (U.S.A.)