Farm Sanctuary is kind of like that gift that keeps on giving. I mean seriously, how can you not leave these guys?! As the nations leading animal rescue organization, Farm Sanctuary strives to see a world where the violence that animal agriculture inflicts upon people, animals and the environment has ended, and where instead we exercise values of compassion.

Last night Ecorazzi had the honor of attending the organizations Winter Wonderland for the Animals event and catching up with a few of our favorite Hollywood do-gooders. The evening was held at the beautiful Art Directors Club in midtown Manhattan and was jam packed with New York’s most compassionate crowd. 

Upon arrival we made our way to the press area and said hello to Corey and Susie Feldman, Jennifer Coolidge, Daniella Sea and many more. Of course the evening wouldn’t be complete without a little face time with Alison Becker, Loretta Swit, Chloe Jo Berman, Victoria Moran, Karen Dawn and Joshua Katcher. We also spotted Ally Sheedy, Tatum O’Neal, Peter and Mary Max and Princess Superstar! 

After all that celebrity chatting we were STARVING and so we headed on over to the beautiful array of all vegan nosh, provided by some of New York’s hottest restaurants. Truthfully, everything we tasted was out of this world, but a few of our personal favorites were Dr. Cow’s all raw vegan cheese (order this right now, it will change your life), Candle 79’s Seitan Chimichurri and Lula’s Peanut-Butter Fudge Ice Cream! A-FRIGIN-MAZING!!!

The evening closed with a lively auction to help raise money for all of Farm Sancutary’s important work and a speech by co-founder, Gene Baur! Oh and we have some GREAT news!! Staring next Monday, Ecorazzi will be bringing you six full days of Farm Sanctuary Exclusive interviews with the parties hottest stars! That’s what I’m talking about! So make sure you check back next week to see why Hollywood can’t get enough of this wonderful organization, and visit FarmSanctuary.org to find out how YOU can get involved!

photo credit: Andrew Ford

As a fixture here in the NYC eco party scene, I’m becoming pretty darn good at spotting an awesome event! And this, I can guarantee, will be a party you DON’T want to miss!

On December 4th, the Ecorazzi crew will be getting all jiggy with it at Winter Wonderland for the Animals: A Farm Sanctuary Benefit. Stars like Alison Becker, Jennifer Coolidge, Corey Feldman, Peter Max, Patrick McDonnell, Tatum O’Neal, Daniela Sea, Ally Sheedy, Princess Superstar, Loretta Swit, Justin Theroux, and many more will all be in attendance, showing their support for this fantastic organization!

The event will be held on Thursday, December 4, 2008, from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. at The Art Directors Club in NYC and will include cocktails, gourmet veggie food, a silent auction and goody bags galore! Tickets to the star-studded event are a mere $100, and go towards helping Farm Sanctuary continue all their truly important work! To get your tickets and find out more, visit FarmSanctuary.org! See ya there!

graphic credit: lordjdavis.com

I first Swit her about 3 years ago while volunteering at the Farm Sanctuary Gala in NYC. Later, thanks to my fancy pants job at Ecorazzi, I had the oppertunity to attend the Gala as a member of the press and chat with Loretta on official business. Loretta is a proud long-time vegan and has spent many years working hard for animal reform. During the event she told us: I’ve been in animal rights since before it had a name. I’ve always been involved with rescue/rehab, placement, whatever for animal rights.

We here at Ecorazzi are sure the bioposy is no big thing and send our love and best wishes her way! Get well and see you soon at another event!!

via: starpulse.com

I first heard Loretta speak two years at the Gala and was totally blown away. I had been excited about animal rights for years, but had never once put the connection together between human violence and animal violence — specifically how the societal approval of one affects the approval of the other. Loretta didn’t make a speech this year, but I made sure we spoke before the evening was through.

Parrish: Hi Loretta. Now I gotta say before we start that I’m a little bias. I’m a big fan! I was here two years ago and I absolutely loved your speech. In fact, we met for just a second afterwards.

Loretta Swit: I know. I remember you.

P: No way. You remember that?

LS: Sure. And since you met me they have named a cow after me. There are a lot of animals out there named after me.

P: I know you’re very involved with animal rights. How did you get involved with Farm Sanctuary?

LS: Gene Baur found me. I’ve been in animal rights since before it had a name. I’ve always been involved with rescue/rehab, placement, whatever for animal rights. And he found me to take part in the campaign against the foie gras manufacturers. And that’s how we got to know each other. And I think we’ve been together now about three or four years. He’s pure. He has no other care in life except to make change. And it affects all of us. It affects the animals. It affects the people. When you affect one you affect the other.

I was watching a brilliant documentary called Shark World a few days ago. I’m watching this documentary which says that very simply, if you can not drum up any compassion for the predators, realize this: if they’re gone the rest of the food chain is gone and the ocean is gone and they supply 80 percent of the oxygen you breath. So basically you are dead! You better get some compassion going and think about what you’re doing when you kill sharks, dump the carcass and make soup!! What are you thinking? You need to learn. The big part of our job is education — getting that information out. The brightest thing I ever heard was: you only know what you know. Ok so now I have a lot of information so I get out there and say, ‘Listen up! These are the facts! Act on it!’ I count on the intelligence and compassion of people and they come through each time.

This didn’t start with these numbers. This has grown. My friend Mike Farrell runs Death Penalty Focus. I mean that started with a dozen people in a living room and now it’s a thousand person operation and being televised. People care. They want to know what’s going on!

P: And it’s people like you who are in the spotlight that have the power to reach the masses, so it’s great to see so many famous faces here. Now are you vegetarian?

LS: Vegan.

P: Me too. How long?

LS: Oh I became a vegan in the 80’s.

P: You have me beat. I became vegan when I was 18 and that was 7 years ago.

LS: You’ll live forever! It’s a lifestyle!

P: And one I plan on keeping for the rest of my life! Thank you so much talking with me and I’m sure I’ll see you around one of these things soon.

LS: Great running into you darling. See you very soon I’m sure.

I enjoy a lot of things: really good margaritas, paid vacation time, that noise bubble wrap makes when it’s popped, but none of those compare to how much I love the annual Farm Sanctuary Gala. In case you’re late to the party, Farm Sanctuary was started in 1986 with the rescue of Hilda, a “downer” cow left for dead in a stockpile. Today they are considered to be the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization and work tirelessly to expose and stop cruel practices in the food animal industry. After over 20 successful years they now have 2 fully running sanctuaries in New York and California that are home to hundreds of animals, tons of staff and plenty of curious visitors.

Each year the organization holds a ritzy, celebrity-packed gala to help raise money for their many noble causes. Two yeas ago, before my Ecorazzi days, I volunteered at the event and was truly inspired by a room full of like-minded people all coming together to celebrate those that are so rarely even thought about. This year I got to attend with a full access, fancy-pancy press pass and pick the brains of those very famous VIP’s I once so fondly cooed over.

I arrived at 4:30, signed in and was told I had “full-access” to the event. Score! After getting my photographer Andrew Ford set up on the red carpet I headed inside for some investigative work (and perhaps a little appetizer munching). The space was pure elegance with beautifully decorated tables, a silent auction area and, of course, the second floor VIP loft. I started slowly and perused some of the items on the silent auction tables. There were signed photographs, paintings, jewelry and plenty of eager volunteers to help answer any questions I might have.

Next I headed upstairs to the VIP lounge where I had the chance to speak with Melissa Rivers (a regular Ecorazzi reader), Emily Deschanel, Rory Freedman, Dennis Kucinich, Swoosie Kurtz, Kevin Nealon, Victoria Moran, Ally Sheedy, Loretta Swit, Russell Simmons and Farm Sanctuary president and co-founder Gene Baur. The celebs were kind, well-spoken and all agreed on one thing: Farm Sanctuary is pretty damn incredible. FYI — throughout the week Ecorazzi will feature The Farm Sanctuary Gala Interviews, a series of exclusive one on ones with the many celebrity guests in attendance.

After celeb-time, the ceremony began with host Heather Mills admitting that she wanted to “convert all the meat-eaters in the house.” Awesome! The dinner came a bit later and was partially designed by Mills herself. Now even though I had “full-access”, I didn’t have “full-access” to dinner!! However, you better believe those years of waiting tables taught me a thing or two about getting on the good side of servers. I quickly befriended a waiter and made sure I got a plate of vegan lasagna with bechamel sauce. Sadly, I must admit that I was far from impressed. The plate appeared rather sloppy, adversely juxtaposing the elegance of the evening, and the overly sweet bechamel sauce left much to be desired. Luckily I filled up on delicious appetizers like fresh guacamole, vegan chicken and green tomato soup.

The ceremony continued with awards given to many, including Karen Dawn for her outstanding activism and the Jivamukti Yoga School for their leadership in compassionate living. As the evening began to wind down Susie Essman got on stage and auctioned off a few pretty incredible gifts — my favorite being a portrait sitting with world-renown painter Peter Max. The ceremony closed with a twilight reception and a musical performance by Grammy Award winner Shawn Colvin.

As I chowed down on my out of the this world vegan brownie cheesecake, care of Vegan Treats, I looked around the room at a group of people who were all spending their time and money on a cause they truly believed in and I felt so proud to be among them. It was getting late and my feet were tired so I headed for the exit and was offered a remarkably heavy gift-bag with enough vegan products to last me for the next month!

A big thanks to the folks at Farm Sanctuary for pulling off such a lovely event and for inviting your beloved Ecorazzi team to take part in the festivities. If you’d like to visit the farm or learn how you can get involved, visit FarmSanctuary.org. Also, don’t forget to check Ecorazzi all week long for the Farm Sanctuary Gala exclusive interviews!

Photo Credit: Andrew Ford

What’s more fun than spending a fancy schmancy evening in downtown New York City eating classy vegan fare with some of today’s hottest celebrities? Um, nothing! 

On May 17th from 6pm-midnight Farm Sanctuary will hold it’s annual gala at Cipriani Wall Street in NYC — and trust me, you don’t want to miss it! Farm Sanctuary was founded in 1986 and aims to expose and stop cruel practices that take place in the “food animal” industry. They now have two shelters — one in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and the other in Orland, Calif. — where they provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals. 

This year the Farm Sanctuary Gala will be hosted by Heather Mills, emceed by Melissa Rivers and will feature a delicious three course vegan dinner, an awards ceremony, a silent auction and a musical performance by Shawn Colvin. And the guest list is just as exclusive with celebrities like Kristen Bell, Rachel Leigh Cook, Jennifer Coolidge, Emily Deschanel, Christine Ebersole, Swoosie Kurtz, Kevin Nealon, Loretta Swit, Persia White and Debra Wilson Skelton scheduled to attend, as well as many others.  

Tickets may sound a bit pricey at 400 dollars a pop, but save those pennies because this evening is totally worth it. Last time I went I heard an incredible speech by Loretta Swit, said hello to James Cromwell and pointed Alicia Silverstone to the restroom. 

To find out more visit FarmSanctuary.org and get those tickets before they run out! I’ll be covering the event this year so make sure you find me and say hello!