D
esigner and philanthropist Donna Karan certainly has style. The fashion icon was honored with the Humanitarian of the Year Award for her partnership with ShelterBox USA and their earthquake relief efforts in Haiti at the Liaison Capitol Hill hotel on Thursday night.
“What’s really fashionable is to help and care for somebody,” Karan told Yeas & Nays. After seeing the effect the earthquake had on people in Haiti, Karan said she felt like it was her responsibility and duty to get involved.
“I have an organization called Urban Zen. The woman that runs the studio there is Haitian, and it was a call to action — to realize the bevy of people I have that were involved with Haiti,” she explained.
Karan’s foundation Urban Zen teamed up with ShelterBox USA to provide emergency shelter and life-saving equipment to disaster survivors. They distributed more than 28,000 ShelterBoxes, which include tents, water purification systems and tool kits to people in Haiti.
“Ideas come so often but resolutions don’t,” said Karan.
Aiding people in need is one trend Karan would like to see more people start setting. She enlisted celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, and retailers Neiman Marcus and Ralph Lauren to help start Hope Help and Relief Haiti, an initiative whose mission is to create a conscientious community of leaders in music, fashion, film, finance and art to become agents of change for the renewal of Haiti. Together they have helped more than 250,000 people.
Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda Dame Deborah Mae Lovell, Ambassador of Japan Ichiro Fujisaki, and Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., also attended Thursday’s event.
