Chefs Todd Gray & Michel Richard Cook Up A Glorious Garden Party For FAIR Fund

Chef Todd Gray (second from left) with his makeshift kitchen staff (inside his actual home kitchen) made sure no one left hungry on Saturday.

Be sure to check out all 60 of our photographs from this event HERE and tell us what you were wearing that night!

NORTHWEST -- According to the University of Pennsylvania, approximately 294,000 American teenagers are at risk of sex trafficking every year. A form of modern day slavery, human trafficking spans international borders and is a problem in many American communities, including the Washington metropolitan area.

Founded with the mission of preventing the human trafficking of youth through community leadership, education, and empowerment programs, as well as mentoring and supporting victims, the FAIR Fund has been at the forefront of this struggle for almost a decade now.

And on Saturday afternoon, close to 100 supporters of the non-profit gathered at the welcoming Northwest home of Chef Todd and Ellen Kassoff Gray for a "glamorously unadorned garden party" benefiting FAIR Fund.

Chef Todd is, of course, the award-winning culinary talent at the helm of the top rated Equinox Restaurant in D.C. Together with the iconic Chef Michel Richard (owner of area favorites Citronelle and Central), they co-headlined this weekend's festive affair, delivering a low-key yet still enchanting afternoon to a packed crowd of local foodies and do-gooders.

While Chef Michel was regrettably unable to attend the party at the last minute, Citronelle's tasty contributions -- in the form of onion pizzas, spoons of tomato tartar, smoked salmon canapes, and chocolate bar bites -- were delightfully still on the menu (as were the drinks).

And Chef Todd's mastery of his own kitchen more than made up for Chef Michel's absence, with his miniature BLTs, tuna tartar on plantain chips, fresh guacamole with skipjack chips, and pistachio and white chocolate truffles, all quickly wolfed down.

Despite the culinary star power on display on Saturday, the true purpose of the event remained front-and-center to all guests as they arrived at the Gray house, with a blown-up photograph of a happy young girl greeting them at the door.

Tables full of beautiful handmade necklaces and earrings that were for sale had also been set up in the living room by representatives of the FAIR Fund's signature JewelGirls program. The revenue generated from the program's jewelry sales provides a source of income to participants that, in turn, teaches them about financial management and offers them a chance at a future free of poverty (and therefore hopefully immune to the coercive practices of traffickers). Additionally, the creative aspects of designing and creating each piece of jewelry serve as a form of art therapy for at-risk youth.

About halfway through the party, with a friendly crowd filling the Grays' deep backyard patio and garden, FAIR Fund founder and Executive Director Andrea Powell welcomed everyone to the event and spoke briefly about the non-profit's mission and accomplishments.

In 2009 alone, FAIR Fund educated 1,250 teens worldwide (850 from D.C. schools, shelters, and youth centers) on how to protect themselves from sexual exploitation, in addition to working with community leaders on how to combat youth trafficking and spearheading much needed research initiatives on the problem. Yet, the non-profit still has much more work to do, given the global extent of the crisis and the number of young people involved.

To learn more about the FAIR Fund, please visit the organization's website.

Be sure to check out all 60 of our photographs from this event HERE and tell us what you were wearing that night!