Traditionally speaking, major charities like UNICEF are dealing in major numbers. (This year, for example, nine million Ethiopian children have been immunized.) But the focus at last night's Snowflake Ball was a much smaller sum: zero—as in zero preventable infant deaths. "Any number above that is unacceptable," UNICEF's president, Caryl Stern, explained, recounting a story about watching a child die in her parents' arms because she wasn't given a vaccine that cost seven cents. "I believe in zero, and that's what we have to do." One of the event's junior chairs, Barbara Bush—who was joined at her table by sister Jenna, cousin Lauren Bush, and Lauren's boyfriend, David Lauren—explained that the goal wasn't out of the question: "This year the number of deaths per day has, for the first time ever, gone below 25,000. So with events like this, and with people like those in this room, zero is completely possible."

After the dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street, the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award was presented by the late actress' son Sean Ferrer to UNICEF representative Ted Chaiban. (It was accepted by Chaiban's wife, since he was unable to leave his post in Ethiopia.) The evening then went from international aid to international fame, as Mariah Carey made a surprise appearance to introduce the chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group, Antonio "L.A." Reid, who received the Spirit of Compassion Award. Put mildly, Carey was in good spirits. "How you feelin'?" she asked the crowd, and then after mispronouncing the word philanthropic, joked, "I didn't go to college! I was making records!" She then teased the attentive audience with the first lines of her hit "Hero" before abruptly breaking off: "Nah, I'm joking, y'all!" The injection of fun roused the crowd just in time—right before the live auction. Said Reid, "There's lots of rich people in this room. Let's shake 'em down and get a few million."

— Derek Blasberg