December 21, 2007 | Celebrity

Walking for Water

Sometimes it’s not enough just to talk the talk. On Monday night at Scott Harrison’s charity: ball, celebrity co-hosts Adrian Grenier and Jessica Stam showed their commitment to raising money for freshwater wells in Africa by literally walking the walk.

To help guests better understand the arduous task of transporting water (which many African women and children endure daily), Tripp Mixx Productions created the Water Walk. An interactive element to the event, the long runway was inscribed with a staggering fact that, “40 billion hours are wasted each year collecting water in Sub-Sahara Africa.” Sponsors such as Elle Magazine, Shutterstock.com, Nautica and Aboutblu donated $120 for each guest that carried two 40lb jerry cans down the runway and back. A total of $60,000 was raised through the Water Walk which is the approximate cost of building 12 wells in Africa.

VIP guests including designers Isaac Mizrahi and Ashleigh Verrier, actress Jennifer Missoni, Paper Magazine’s Mickey Boardman, Tenjune owner Marc Birnbaum, restauranteur David Rabin, gallerist Melody Weir and Emma Snowdon-Jones were served hors d’oeuvres by Thomas Preti and Relish Catering while enjoying a show from Cat Powers. Feeling spontaneous, legendary singer Chaka Khan treated the crowd to an impromptu performance and even donated a kiss to the live auction. Although it should be noted that most of the female party-goers hoped that Adrian Grenier would follow suit.

Produced by Metropolitan Events and Production with the charity: water team, the benefit raised $500,000 through ticket sales, corporate and private donations, the live and silent auctions (packed with coveted luxury items from Prada, YSL, David Yurman & Delano) and sales from charity: water merchandise by Banana Republic. Other generous supporters of the organization include event vendors such as Scharff Weisberg Inc., Party Rentals, Graphic Systems Group, Grey Goose Vodka, Palmes D’Or Champagne, Ecco Wine, State Public Relations and Brand Building Public Relations.

For more information on charity: water or to donate, visit www.charityis.org.

Related Story: All I Want for Christmas is Water.