WIN's Blog

The New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) conducts an annual street outreach to survey the NYC homeless population. DHS is recruiting 3,000 volunteers to conduct the survey on January 25, 2010.

We would like to encourage everyone to participate in this rewarding and worthwhile event. I participated in a previous survey and found it to be a sobering and rewarding experience.

To volunteer or for more information, visit:  HOPE website.  When registering, please answer the question “Are you associated with a member of the NYC Continuum of Care” by using the drop-down button to select Women In Need.

-Bonnie Stone, President and CEO, Women In Need, Inc.

Our “Homes for the Holidays” auction that has been taking place on CharityBuzz.com ended last night and was a complete success!  Thanks to all who participated, we raised a total of $24,725!

The money will help provide homeless families in New York City hope, support and shelter. We appreciate every one’s support and want to especially thank all of the designers of the mini-houses for taking the time to help our organization.

To see a list of the houses and how much they were auctioned off for, visit CharityBuzz.com. George Rodrigue’s was the highest seller at $5,250!  Happy Holidays!

We are thrilled and thankful for all of the media attention surrounding our “Homes for the Holidays” auction! The buzz is fantastic and bidding wars are in full effect.

Fox Business News, The Today Show, InStyle and Women’s Wear Daily are just some of the national outlets that have all helped to spread the word about the auction and message of Women In Need along with a countless list of well known blogs and websites such as TheDailyBeast.com, Cosmopolitan.com, More.com, AOL Stylelist and Glamour.com.  

Click here to check out some of the pieces and see the full list of online media.

Thank you to all of our supporters.

After interviewing the Bonnie Stone, the President of Women In Need, and some of the designers who were generous enough to participate in our “Homes for the Holidays” project, we put together a video just for you.

Cameron Silver of Decades, Isaac Mizrahi, Josie Natori and Monica Rich Kossan all spoke about their inspirations behind the houses they created and their involvement with the charity.

Watch the touching video on WIN’s YouTube channel here.

This has been an incredible week of media coverage! First WWD, then The Today Show and now The Daily Beast. We’re thrilled!

The Daily Beast covered our upcoming auction in the section titled, “Giving Beast.” A  slide show of the celebrities and designers houses is also showcased.

“Diddy’s has a helicopter on top. Ludacris has a Lexus outside of his. And Vera Wang’s looks like a wedding dress,” Lisa Goodwin states in the opening of the article.

She also points out that as much fun as this project is, Women In Need has a serious mission of helping homeless families in NYC by providing them with shelter.  Click here to read the article.

Live this morning from Rockefeller Center, Meredith Vieira and Al Roker displayed a slew of the houses that will be auctioned off on CharityBuzz for Women In Need beginning November 9th on The Today Show!  

A few of the celebrities and designers paper mache houses they pointed out were Jennifer Lopez, Dylan Lauren, Ludacris, Vera Wang and of course their own.  Yes, The Today Show hosts partnered with Parsons The New School for Design to create a house that will be up for auction.  

You can watch the clip from this morning’s segment here.

A-list celebrities, renowned designers, hip hop sensations, Broadway performers and sports stars have all come together to participate in an auction in support of Women In Need. Each of them will be designing a papier mache house that reflects their personality and expertise with the common theme of “Home is Where the Heart Is.”

The auction will be held on CharityBuzz.com from November 9th through November 30th and the money collected by Women In Need will go towards helping to provide housing and help to homeless families in New York City.  

Saks Fifth Avenue will be featuring the decorative houses in their NYC windows from November 5th through the 9th so if you’re going to be in the city during that time be sure to check them out.  

And now for this list of designers participating… Sean Avery; Lidia Bastianich; Victoria & David Beckham; Halle Berry; Mary J. Blige; Chris “Ludacris” Bridges; Bobbi Brown; Cast of the Broadway Musical Hair; Sean “Diddy” Combs; Oscar de la Renta; Cheyenne Jackson; Donna Karan; Monica Rich Kosann; Dylan Lauren; Richard Leach for Park Avenue Autumn; Deborah Lloyd for Kate Spade; Jennifer Lopez; Isaac Mizrahi; Moby; Debra Messing; Josie Natori; George Rodrigue; Cameron Silver for Decades; Justin Timberlake & Trace Ayala; Today Show Anchors; Diane Von Furstenberg; Vera Wang

For more information please visit Women-In-Need.org and make sure you check out the auction.  The homes make great holiday gifts!