Donatella Versace graced New York City with her royal presence this week. The reason for her visit? She was here to preside at the opening of Art Unites, a program created in conjunction with the Whitney that is giving out art supplies to 1,400 seriously ill children around the world. The kids use the materials to make art work; their pieces then get turned into special edition Versace tote bags, which are sold to the public with the proceeds going back to non-profit. It's a fine cause, of course. But did event organizers really have to subject these sick kids to physical contact with Donatella? Haven't they been through enough as it is? A collection of unfortunate kids subjected to the Donatella's frightening embrace after the jump.

The High Line, the elevated railway turned public promenade, opened last night to a select group of donors and supporters. Before the gala kicked off, Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller issued a challenge grant, promising to donate $10 million to the walkway if someone else came along and matched it. Hedge fund mogul Phil Falcone and his wife Lisa delivered, and while it's still unclear when the public park will actually be public—rumor has it that it may just be a matter of days now—in the meantime, venture capitalist Fred Wilson was good enough to bring a camera along to last night's event so we can all get a little peek at what's in store.

The Robin Hood Foundation's spring fundraiser took place last night at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center and some 3,200 people turned up to munch on grilled shrimp and chicken Milanese, mingle with the likes of Oprah and Anne Hathaway, and open their wallets and give to the non-profit that funnels millions of dollars a year to worthy causes across the city. The mood was a bit subdued this year, which isn't surprising considering Robin Hood remains the charity of choice for a big bunch of Wall Street chiefs and hedge fund titans like Dan Och, Steve Cohen, and Paul Tudor Jones. To reflect the mood, the lavish auction items that were a staple in previous years weren't part of the program this time around. But emcee Jon Stewart managed to keep the crowd laughing with Bernie Madoff jokes, and George Soros gave the evening a big boost by making a $50 million pledge. (The organization collected a total of $72 million last night, up from $56 million last spring.) Coverage of the event can be found here, here, and here. For a slightly more informal take on the evening, a brief dispatch from the wife of a hedge fund manager is below.

The Way We Live Now: In rubble, soaked in our own urine. Americans are giving up on baseball. Iraqis are giving up on jobs. And entire cities are giving up on existence and bulldozing themselves.

Lunch with Anderson Cooper went for $7,500 at Bailey House's annual fundraiser last night, which raises money for homeless people with HIV and AIDS. "Like stocks and real estate, Cooper's market value has declined by more than 60 percent—the Cooper date sold for $21,000 in 2007." [NYM/Daily Intel, previously]

Simon Doonan, Anderson Cooper and Rachel Maddow hit the market in less than two hours! Act fast! Opportunities like this don't come around very often. Plus the money goes to a good cause, which should make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, independently of the fact you're going to actually sit down with Andy and watch him masticate. [Bailey House 21st Annual Auction]

For the past few days we've been hearing about the long list of charities that lost millions in Bernie Madoff's elaborate Ponzi scheme. But what about Madoff's own charitable contributions? Although he's been widely described as a prominent donor to various Jewish causes, Madoff hasn't been giving away bundles of cash for some time now. In 2007, the Madoff Family Foundation, which listed $19 million in assets at the end of the year, reported handing out $95,000 over the course of the year, down more than 90 percent from the year before when the foundation gave away $1.2 million. Perhaps he had an inkling the end was near and decided to hold on to as much cash as possible?

Elettra Weidemann says her charity JustOneFrickinDay.com, which funds development projects in Africa, was inspired by the weekends she spent as a child at a conservation center in Florida with her mother Isabella Rossellini—who, Elettra reveals, does "green pornos" for the Sundance Channel where she "dresses up as a bug, fly, spider, grasshopper...praying mantis, and explains how bugs have sex." Sounds much more fun than modeling for Lancome! (But not dissimilar from acting for David Lynch.) [NYO]

The YAI, a charity that helps out people with disabilities, has a big "Brighter Futures Society" charity event coming up in NYC, and they really need to attract the bright-eyed youth that can make a positive impact on the future. So did they appeal to altruism? Political beliefs? Kindness of heart? No, they decided to use a much more realistic message in their promotional ads: Come to our event and get laid. After the jump, one ad for boys, and one for girls, testifying how much ass you can pull by attending this worthy charity function. UPDATE: Apparently YAI didn't appreciate our headline and has pulled the ads off YouTube. BUT we grabbed the female ad before it went down, and it is still below. It's good! Lighten up, YAI!