KDH agrees it’s always important to give back, so I was thrilled to be asked to join a notorious group of do-gooders many years ago called the Kelly Gang. Spearheaded by the New York Post “Media Ink” columnist, Keith Kelly, the gang was originally comprised of powerful male moguls in media & publishing who all shared the last name Kelly [see members below]. I was honored when Keith asked me to become one of the first female members to join the gang [even though my first name is Kelli!] and am very proud of the charitable achievements the group has made over the years.

Here’s a bit about the backstory on The Kelly Gang, Inc.:

The Kelly Gang, Inc. is a charitable organization incorporated and registered in New York State, and the St. Patrick’s Day Benefit is a tradition of which they are very proud. To date, Kelly Gang, Inc. has raised nearly $500k for worthy causes, including: the family of late editor and columnist Michael Kelly, Tuesday’s Children, Catholic Relief Services in Haiti, The Doe Fund, The Hunter’s Hope Foundation, The Wounded Warrior Project, New Orleans Catholic Charities Crescent House, Operation Helping Hands, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and the Annie Moore Memorial Project.

The 8^th ANNUAL KELLY GANG ST. PATRICK’S DAY EVENT BENEFITTING CITY HARVEST & THE EVAN B. DONALDSON ADOPTION INSTITUTE took place on March 14th, at Michael’s restaurant in NYC [which historically has always been the hotspot for media bigwigs to power lunch].

City Harvest is the world’s first food rescue organization dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children. This year, City Harvest will collect more than 33 million pounds of excess food that is delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City. City Harvest helps feed the more than one million New Yorkers that face hunger each year.

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute is the pre-eminent research, policy and education organization in its field.  Its mission is to provide leadership that improves laws, policies and practices – through sound research, education and advocacy – in order to better the lives of everyone touched by adoption.

Notable guests included: NYPD Commissioner, Ray Kelly; Keith J. Kelly, “Media Ink” Columnist, New York Post; Jim Kelly, Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair; Kate Kelly Smith, Senior Vice President, Publishing Director of the Hearst Design Group;  Tom Kelly, Writer/Producer, CBS Blue Bloods; Greg Kelly, co-anchor of Good Day NY; Tara Kraft, editor-in-chief of Shape magazine; Ed Kelly, President/CEO, American Express Publishing & Kelly Gang Co-Founder and President; Declan Kelly,Founding Partner and co-CEO, Teneo Holdings

The corporate sponsors of this year’s benefit include: American Express Publishing, American Media Inc.,Bloomberg, Condé Nast, Declan Kelly, Forbes Media, Hearst Corporation, Meredith Corporation, News Corporation, The Newsweek Daily Beast Co., Bill O’Reilly, Anchor, Fox News Channel, Reader’s Digest Association, Rodale, Inc., TIME Inc. and Newsmax Media.