Summary

Rainn Wilson, along with his co-stars Steve Carell and Angela Kinsey, held an “unofficial” dinner party to raise money for the LIDÈ Haiti Foundation, which aims to empower at-risk adolescent Haitian girls. The dinner party was not a reenactment of the infamous Dinner Party episode from The Office, but it went much smoother and was for a good cause. Rainn Wilson is a co-founder of LIDÈ Haiti and has been involved in supporting the foundation’s mission to empower adolescent girls through arts, education, and health.

The Office didn’t get much funnier than its season four episode, Dinner Party. The world’s best boss, Michael Scott (Steve Carell), decides to hold a couples’ dinner at his condo, and he invites Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) along with Andy (Ed Helms) and Angela (Angela Kinsey) to join the intimate festivities. Dwight (Rainn Wilson) is incredibly hurt when Michael snubs him, but the assistant to the regional manager still ends up crashing the party — with his old babysitter of all people later that night. And in real life, Wilson reunited with a couple of his co-stars from the NBC sitcom for their own “unofficial” dinner party in 2023. Wilson posted the following on his Instagram account:

“Had an amazing time the other night with some old friends. Steve [Carell] and @AngelaKinsey generously joined me and some guests, donors and staff members to raise money for @LideHaiti and girls education. (Thanks to the good folks @charitybuzz for helping put together.)
It wasn’t exactly a reenactment of the dinner party episode, but I did bring my babysitter and a teeny tiny flatscreen. Follow @LideHaiti and help spread the word about their incredible work!”

Check out the post in its entirety @rainnwilson below:

While the infamous Dinner Party on The Office ended in utter disaster, and Michael’s tiny $200 plasma TV was ruined by his live-in girlfriend Jan (Melora Hardin), Wilson’s “unofficial” version went much smoother — and it was held for a good cause. Wilson joined with fellow Office alums Carell and Kinsey to raise money and awareness for the LIDÈ Haiti Foundation.

Related: The 20 Best Quotes from The Office

Rainn Wilson Raises Money for LIDÈ Haiti
NBCUniversal

On the American version of The Office, Rainn Wilson’s character Dwight Schrute played the comical version of Darth Vader to Michael Scott’s (Steve Carell) evil Emperor Palpatine at Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Ohio. Granted, it was a hilarious take on the vaunted Star Wars’ relationship — one in which Vader and Palpatine sold paper rather than building Death Stars — but in real life Wilson is working for a much more important cause than that of the Galactic Empire. Wilson is a co-founder of LIDÈ Haiti. The history of the foundation’s formation reads as follows:

“LIDÈ was established by Author Holiday Reinhorn, Actor Rainn Wilson and Dr. Kathryn Adams as a short-term project to provide healing through the arts for adolescent girls who had survived the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. During a two-week program, the three of them watched girls mend and find their own voices.
Afterward, they watched those same girls try to hang on to those voices and teach other girls what they had learned. But they needed support, and so the idea of creating year-round programs aimed at building resiliency and empowering adolescent girls began.”

Wilson’s connection to LIDÈ Haiti begins with his involvement with the Mona Foundation back in 2007. Seven years later, the star of The Office joined Mona’s board of directors. The mission for LIDÈ Haiti is to empower “at-risk adolescent Haitian girls through the arts, education, and health.” And it was the actor’s passion for LIDÈ that led to the “unofficial” dinner party with his friends and colleagues Steve Carell and Angela Kinsey. For more information, and to learn how you can help, please visit LIDÈ Haiti’s official website.