The Blue Card, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding Holocaust survivors, will host its annual benefit gala on Monday, November 21, 2016, at Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. The event will be hosted by Tony Nominee and Emmy and Golden Globe Award-Winning Actor Tony Shalhoub.
This year’s benefit will feature a cocktail reception, seated dinner and performances by Broadway and film stars Linda Lavin, Lainie Kazan and Raul Esparza. It will also feature a special performance from the cast of the upcoming Broadway play “Indecent” by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel.
The evening will include the presentation of awards to individuals dedicated to supporting the needs of Holocaust survivors and advancing human rights worldwide. This year, The Richard C. Holbrooke Award for Social Justice will be given to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. The Blue Card will also present the Irene Hizme Tikkun Olam Award to Brooke Goldstein, Human Rights Lawyer and Founder of the Lawfare Project.
Additional honorees include: New York City Council; Leo Rechter, Founder and President of The National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors (NAHOS), who will receive the Max L. Heine Humanitarian Award; and Broadway, film and television actor Mimi Lieber, The Blue Card President Emeritus.
“The Blue Card is proud to recognize Senator Schumer, Brooke Goldstein, the New York City Council, Mimi Lieber and Leo Rechter, for their dedication to raising awareness of the current plight of Holocaust survivors in the United States who are so critically in need of financial assistance,” said Masha Pearl, Executive Director of The Blue Card. “For those individuals that survived the atrocities of the Holocaust, many are struggling to make ends meet in the face of a growing number of medical issues, the rising cost of living and challenges navigating the health systems. The mission of The Blue Card, to help survivors live their remaining years in dignity, is incredibly time-sensitive as at least 50 percent of Holocaust survivors alive today will pass away within the next 10 to 20 years. We greatly appreciate the work of this year’s honorees, and are looking to the larger community to help spread awareness about those still in need.”
The cocktail hour will begin at 6:00pm and the dinner will begin at 6:30pm. Individual tickets start at $400 and tables at $4,000. Tickets can be purchased by calling Milana Baazov at The Blue Card at (212) 239-2251 or by visiting: www.bluecardfund.org.
The Blue Card’s 2015 Annual Benefit Gala honored Nobel Peace Prize laureate, human rights activist and Holocaust survivor the late Elie Wiesel, and was presented by Academy Award winner Michael Douglas and author and journalist Kati Marton. Past event attendees and honorees have included Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow, Ambassador Emeritus Thomas Pickering, philanthropists Zach Lonstein and Shoshanna Lonstein, former New York City mayor Ed Koch, musician Regina Spektor, journalist Jonathan Alter, and actors Danny Aiello, Cynthia Nixon and David Hyde Pierce.
