MacDella Cooper Foundation Hosts Benefit

MacDella CooperFoundation Hosts “Champions of Education” Benefit

Reporting by Leah

On Saturday, July 24, 2010, the MacDella Cooper Foundation (MCF), a 501(c)3 international charitable organization devoted to educating Liberian youth, hosted the annual Champions of Education benefit. The event kicked off with an exclusive reception at the Opening Day of the Mercedes Benz Polo Challenge, followed by a private dinner and red carpet reception for VIP guests.MCF founder, MacDella Cooper teamed up to co-host the event with Jill Zarin and Countess LuAnn de Lesseps (The Real Housewives of New York) and Caroline Manzo and Dina Manzo (The Real Housewives of New Jersey) as well as the Host Committee, which included a wide range of celebrities, business owners and philanthropists.

The event kicked off at 3pm with a private reception at the Opening Day of Bridgehampton Polo, one of the Hamptons most exclusive summer events. Guests enjoyed cocktails and hors doeuvres and watched Poloby the tents at the Mercedes Benz Polo Challenge.Following the reception, VIP guests were invited to join MacDella Cooper and the Host Committee for a red carpet reception, silent auction and private dinner at the home of Erika & Kelley Millet in Bridgehampton.

MacDella Cooper is one of thousands of refugees of the Liberian civil war. At the age of 12, Coopers home was raided by rebels and her stepfather was captured. MacDella and her two teenage brothers escaped their town, dodging bullets and passing dead bodies on the roadside. It took them six months to get to a refugee camp on the Ivory Coast, and another three years for their immigration papers to come through before MacDella and her brothers could be reunited with their mother in the US. Cooper embraced her new life in the United States and went on to get a degree from The College of New Jersey. She moved to New York City to work in fashion and modeling, with her pictures appearing in Glamour magazine. Today, Cooper has become known as Liberias Angel, attracting international investors to Liberian markets and creating awareness of the plight of Liberian children through her humanitarian initiatives.

The Champions of Education benefit was sponsored by The Segal Family Foundation and Argentine Estate Winery Doa Paula. All proceeds from the event will benefit the MCF Academy for orphans and abandoned children in Monrovia, Liberia. The MCF Academy will be the first school dedicated to orphan and abandoned children in post-war Liberia to be founded by a female refugee of the civil war. The Academy is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010 and will ultimately house and educate 200 children. Acclaimed architect Winka Dubbeldam, principal of the world-renowned firm Archi-Tectonics in New York, designed the sustainable MCF Academy.Individual tickets ranged from $250 to $500.For more information on the MacDella Cooper Foundation please visit www.macdellacooper.org.

The Segal Family Foundation:
The mission of the Segal Family Foundation is to help deserving people in Sub-Saharan Africa, improve the quality of their lives, perpetually. SFF focuses on parts of the continent that have not benefited from the modernization that has happened throughout the world. For more information about SFF visit www.segalfamilyfoundation.org.

Argentine Estate Winery Doa Paula:
Argentine Estate Winery Doa Paula is an estate winery located in Mendoza, the most prestigious wine-producing region of Argentina. Due to its ideal and unique terroir, and the meticulous dedication of its winemakers, Doa Paula produces wines of unmistakable quality and varietal purity. For more information about Doa Paula visit www.donapaula.com.