Lunchbox Aid

For Julie Panebianco and Topaz Page-Green, the term power lunch may have been redefined. Concerned about the growing number of impoverished children that went hungry at school every day, the friends joined forces in 2005 to create The Lunchbox Auction to raise money for two hunger relief organizations. Celebrities, designers, musicians and artists were asked to design personalized lunchbox art to be donated to an online auction to benefit the Food Bank for New York City and The Lunchbox Fund of South Africa.

This year over a hundred celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Eva Mendes, Jimmy Fallon, Helena Christensen, Sienna Miller, Billy Crudup, Mike Myers, Zac Posen, Anna Sui, Alice Temperley, Kanye West, David Bowie, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Branson and Mario Batali have each created an original lunchbox that reflects their unique personality. Each lunchbox is signed by the artist and numbered.

To kick off the fundraising efforts, Michael Stipe will host a private, star-studded party on Thursday, December 6th at Saatchi and Saatchi for VIPs to preview the artwork before it goes live at midnight (12 AM EST) on www.thelunchboxauction.org. The online auction runs through Friday, December 21st, 2007.

To donate food, money or time to the Food Bank for New York City which supplies food to 1.3 million people in the city, visit www.foodbanknyc.org.

To find out more about The Lunchbox Fund which provides lunch to school children and AIDS orphans in South Africa, visit www.thelunchboxfund.org.

PHOTO CREDIT:  Photos by Seth Sabal