Life's WORC Returns to the Hamptons, Honoring Bill Ritter and Trish Gathers as Geraldo Rivera Marks 50 Years of Advocacy

• Life's WORC held its Annual Hamptons Summer Soirée at Victoria Schneps' home, hosted by Geraldo Rivera and founder Victoria Schneps-Yunis, following the 38th Annual Geraldo Rivera Golf Classic.

• Bill O'Reilly joined as special guest; ABC News anchor Bill Ritter received the Life's WORC Courage Award and Carmelite System President and CEO Trish Gathers received the Community Service Award.

• The event marks more than 50 years since Geraldo Rivera's 1972 investigation into the Willowbrook State School, which led to the school's closing and helped shape Life's WORC's mission.

• Notable attendees included Geraldo Rivera, Victoria Schneps-Yunis, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Ritter, and Trish Gathers.

This year's celebration featured Bill O'Reilly as special guest. ABC News anchor Bill Ritter received the Life's WORC Courage Award, recognizing his longstanding commitment to journalism and community leadership alongside his recent disclosure of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Trish Gathers, President and CEO of Carmelite System Inc., received the Community Service Award for her leadership in strengthening communities through service and compassion.

Notable attendees included Geraldo Rivera, Victoria Schneps-Yunis, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Ritter, and Trish Gathers.

The Summer Soirée follows another successful Geraldo Rivera Golf Classic, continuing a fundraising tradition that reflects Rivera's decades-long commitment to Life's WORC. That relationship began in 1972, when his television investigation into conditions at the Willowbrook State School exposed widespread abuse and neglect, prompting national reforms in the care of people with developmental disabilities. More than half a century later, Rivera remains one of Life's WORC's most dedicated advocates, having helped raise awareness and millions of dollars for the organization's mission.

Together, the Golf Classic and Summer Soirée form the cornerstone of Life's WORC's annual fundraising calendar, bringing together longtime supporters, corporate partners, civic leaders, and philanthropists committed to creating more inclusive communities and expanding opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Life's WORC was founded in 1971 by Victoria Schneps-Yunis, originally as the Women's Organization For Retarded Children, with a group of women in her Bayside neighborhood who volunteered and raised money for people at the Willowbrook State School. Schneps-Yunis's activism was inspired by her daughter Lara, who was brain damaged after birth. In 1972, following severe state budget cuts, Rivera's reporting on conditions at Willowbrook, then the country's largest institution serving people with developmental disabilities and autism, gained national attention and led to the school's closing after parents won a federal class action lawsuit.

Life's WORC went on to purchase the first group home for children in New York State, in Little Neck, Queens, housing young people who had previously lived at Willowbrook alongside others who came directly from their family homes. The organization has since grown across New York City and Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, and now runs Day Habilitation Programs, the Family Center For Autism, and a newly created Job Training Center for People with Special Needs. Life's WORC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.