‘Real Housewives’ star surprises local charity with donations
Bethenny Frankel flew in for Dress for Success Houston’s Hurricane Harvey resource fair.
“The Real Housewives of New York City” star, Skinnygirl founder and author surprised DFSH’s 156 clients at the fair.
The biggest shock, however, was delivered to the nonprofit’s mother-daughter/presidentvice president duo, Nancy Levicki and Lauren Levicki
Courville: Frankel had underwritten the all-day event.
She had raised $300,000, she said at the organization’s rooftop garden party after the fair.
She believes in the cause of helping women help themselves.
“In order to be ready to be interviewed, you have to take care of yourself first,” Frankel said.
For the past 19 years, DFSH has helped more than 36,800 women achieve financial independence and gainful employment by providing business attire and jobretention services; its unofficial slogan is “beyond the suit.”
“The goal today is to make sure that nobody loses their job,” Levicki said.
The resource-fair participants were part of the Professional Women’s Group, and are all currently employed. “Achieving self-sufficiency is hard enough. I’m here to help them keep it. Even if it comes down to me calling someone’s employer.”
Each client affected by Hurricane Harvey received clothing, toiletries, bottles of Arizona water, feminine hygiene products, a $200 Walmart gift card, a $100 gas or Metro card and back-to-school supplies for the women with children.
Many opted to end the 90-minute, three-station process with a photo op and oneon-one time with Frankel.
“Everyone here has been affected, yet not one person has complained because someone that they know has had it so much worse,” Frankel said. She wore red cowboy boots — her brand’s signature shade — for the occasion.
“I’ve heard lots of ‘praise God’ and talk of religion. Four or five people broke down in tears. They just needed a hug.”
Saturday’s resource fair will serve as a model for her foundation, B Strong, in the future. She founded the crisis-intervention initiative six months ago and plans to partner with Dress for Success in other cities, too.
After the Bravo reality star and B Strong initially committed $50,000, additional funds and in-kind donations just poured in. According to her website, Frankel’s #thisisacrisis T-shirt, which retails for $17.50, “will immediately be utilized for emergency aid and supplies distributed in the Houston area.”
“Now that I can report back that 100 percent (of proceeds) are going back, people know this is a good place to put your money.”