Jay Leno auctions private garage tour for cancer

Keni Silva has a good reason to support the Children’s Oncology Support Fund.

The Russian model’s daughter Alexis, 16, was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer two years ago.

“How do you tell a child they are going to die?” Silva said. “You say ‘Everything is going to be okay.’ But you don’t know.”

Alexis wrote a song “Fight’s Not Over Yet,” and spent a year being home-schooled before she recovered.

Silva, who appeared on “Real Housewives of Orange County,” is the girlfriend of real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, father of Bella and Gigi Hadid.

She was at Aspen Snow Ball Week, where $3.5 million was raised for COSF to support art and music programs for kids with cancer.

Jay Leno hosted the gala and did a 20-minute set where he joked “Have you read Caitlyn Jenner’s autobiography? It’s a kind of he said, she said.”

During the live auction, Leno surprised the crowd by offering a private tour for four of his L.A. garage at 10K a pop, raising an extra $160,000 for the organization. Leno has 181 cars and 160 motorcycles worth a reported $100 million dollars on display.

The cancer charity was founded by Thomas Pierce, who is also the executive producer of “The Brutalist” starring Adrien Brody, which just scored ten Oscar nominations.

Other guests included honoree Christie Brinkley who told the crowd, “I have to be careful how much I drink tonight — because of the altitude the wine goes right to my head.”

Among those dancing were Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who plays Lyle Menendez on Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters,” Jackie Cruz of “Orange is the New Black,” Snow Lodge owner Jayma Cardozo, pop star Zara Larsson, board member Monica Elias, and Robert Maxwell, whose company ClinConnect chipped in $200k as a lead sponsor.

Silva, who penned “Divorce As An Opportunity,” is now writing “Catching the Uncatchable.”

“I’ll have men explain why they got married, and why they stay married,” she said.

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Leonard Bernstein had trouble writing the text to go along with his Symphony No. 3. His daughter Jamie tried a new version, which wasn’t much better.

Finally, nearly 30 years later, before Bernstein died in 1990, he asked his friend, Holocaust survivor Samuel Pisar.

Pisar — who endured Auschwitz, Dachau and Majdanek— wrote the Kaddish text that has accompanied the symphony ever since in performances across 30 nations around the world.

“His purpose was to warn everyone,” Samuel’s daughter Leah said. “This is universal. It could happen to anyone if we aren’t careful.”

Leah was joined by her stepbrother, former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 29, where they commemorated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

“It’s hideous. People just want to avert their eyes,” Leah told me. “But the symphony feels like a religious experience. It provides a sense of appeasement, a dialogue with God.”

Jerry Seinfeld was among the throng jam-packed into Carnegie Hall. “He was very serious,” Leah said. “He felt it was important to be there.”

Leah, once a speechwriter for Pamela Harriman, will next perform April 18 in Warsaw, where Bernstein conducted his symphony in 1989, and there are plans for performances in Palm Beach and Los Angeles.

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President Trump promised $100k to the Boys & Girls Club of Palm Beach, even though he wasn’t at the benefit held at the Breakers Hotel.

The auctioneer, Thomas Quick, played coy and didn’t use Trump’s name but said, “A generous donor who moves from Mar-a-Largo to the White House has pledged 100K.” The room laughed and cheered their approval.

Casino magnate Steve Wynn promptly trumped the president and gave $1 million to the club as did two other billionaires. The event raised $6.5 million.

Guests included former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and his wife Hilary, Sharon Bush, Jean and Martin Shafiroff, and Amy and John Phelan.

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Out & About: Legal eagle Arthur Aidala celebrated the 125th Anniversary of The Cathedral Club of Brooklyn on his radio show, The Power Hour on 970 AM. The event at El Caribe Country Club honored top cop John M. Chell, NYPD Chief of Department, and attorney Joseph Rosato … Comedian D’yan Forest will perform “90 Years of Songs and Scandal” throughout The Fringe Festival, from April 2–20. Forest was divorced from a man and then married a nun in the late ‘80s … Amy Schumer and Jillian Bell at the Whitby Hotel promoting their Netflix series “Kinda Pregnant” … David Letterman strolling in sunglasses and a beanie hat at 70th and York … Billy Stritch with Nicole Scherzinger at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland.