At Argentine Consulate, Hundreds Bid For Art and Orphans

(lubavitch.com) Thursday night’s frigid temperatures did not factor in at all at the Argentine Consulate of New York City, where hundreds of guests mingled jovially over cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at an evening fashionably dedicated to art and a good cause.

The event was a fundraiser for Ieladeinu, the UNICEF recognized child-care agency established by Chabad of Argentina, for children at risk. Paintings of Argentina’s great contemporary artists installed on the townhouse walls of the consulate’s elegant, tall ceilinged rooms—all donated by the artists for Ieladeinu—were sold later that evening at an auction.

Sensi6, established by Maya Abitbol, Daniella Kahane and Nicole Kavana, organized the fundraiser. The three twenty-somethings who dedicate their event-planning services to good causes chose Ieladeinu as this year’s project because the program, they said, “proves that a little can go a long way through the power of leading by example.” 

The evening was all about ordinary individuals leading by example with the inspiration to share. “It all started with a visit by Avi and Merav Dahan,” Rabbi  Tzvi Grunblatt, director of Ieladeinu and Chabad representative to Argentina, told Lubavitch.com. “They visited Ieladeinu when they were in Buenos Aires, and shared their enthusiasm for the work of Ieladeinu with Sensi6.”

Smartly hosted at the Argentine Consulate with the help of Ambassador Hector Timerman, the donated services and products of all the vendors involved contributed to an experience exemplifying the spirit of Sensi6, which works creatively to appeal to the five senses and cultivate “the sixth sense, the sense of giving,” explained Nicole Kavana.

Among the artwork spanning the variety of themes and media, were four paintings by Ieladeinu’s children, aged 5-11, that generated tight bidding from $3,000 to $6,000 a painting.

Jennifer V. Roth, an auctioneer for Sotheby’s led the bidding, ultimately garnering $28,000 for a Mondongo (Manuel Mendanha) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Rabbi Grunblatt, who founded Ieladeinu, greeted guests at the bidding. Surveying the standing-room only crowd, Grunblatt said that for all the talk about the economic crisis, “we are only in crisis when we are short on values.”

With the right values, he said, “we are empowered to overcome any crisis.”