K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers Gala Raises $1.2M

Move over, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, Simon Doonan might be eyeing your jobs.

Describing himself as a real baseball fan, the Barneys New York creative director was quick to jump to the podium at Wednesday’s K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers dinner to give about 800 guests scoring updates on the sixth game of the World Series.

The event at the Grand Hyatt hotel, for which Doonan served as emcee — and the comic relief — honored John Daly, president of trade finance at CIT Group Inc.; Gary Simmons, president and chief executive officer of Gerber Childrenswear; Andrew Hall, president and ceo of Stage Stores Inc., and Gary Knell, ceo of Sesame Workshop. Daly received the Fashion Has a Heart Award; Simmons, the K.I.D.S. Lifetime Achievement Award; Hall, the Retailer of the Year Award, and Knell, the Humanitarian Award.

The evening raised almost $1.2 million for the charities.

Allan Ellinger, chairman of Fashion Delivers, said no one in the room had been “under more pressure” in recent weeks than Daly, whose company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday. However, Ellinger said through it all Daly “set a new standard for grace and steadfastness.”

The towering Hall got one of the biggest laughs of the night when, stepping to the podium to accept his award, he said: “One second — I’ve got to get Simon’s step stool out of the way.” He thanked all of the guests for being “great corporate citizens” and donating generously during the economic hard times.

Sesame Street Muppet and fairy-in-training Abby Cadabby also amused the crowd with her confusion over her boss’ award, believing at first that it was the Vegetarian Award. Told that it was a Humanitarian Award, she asked in horror: “If a vegetarian eats vegetables, does that mean a humanitarian eats....?” Knell assured her it was for work helping others. She sighed in relief.