On Wednesday, May 7, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Sony Pictures Studios will host the TEEN LINE 2014 Food for Thought Luncheon at 10202 W. Washington Blvd. in Culver City.
TEEN LINE will honor sisters Amy and Jenny Pascal with the Above and Beyond Family Award and outreach speaker Karen Buehler, MBA, with the 2014 Humanitarian Award at the organization’s annual Food for Thought Luncheon. Several remarkable and dedicated teen volunteers will also be honored for service and advocacy.
Jenny Pascal, a gifted Marriage and Family Therapist whose specialty is helping teens and children to thrive, serves as the Training Director for TEEN LINE. For four years, she has devoted her expertise to training the students who answer calls for the peer-to-peer hotline. Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, has supported TEEN LINE’s annual fundraisers, both as an individual and as a representative of her company. In 2012, the Sony financed the production of a powerful anti-bullying video, which is available online and also screened at schools throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
Buehler’s award highlights her enormous contribution to the community as a result of her exemplary volunteerism. After the tragic loss of her teenage daughter to suicide in 2000, she became a spokesperson on the topic of teen suicide prevention. As a volunteer speaker for TEEN LINE, she has educated police officers, high school students and mental health professionals.
Other remarkable and dedicated teen volunteers to be honored at the luncheon include: Ric Tennenbaum, Teen Hero Award; Greta Melendez, Teen Advocacy Award; Samantha Kuner and Sierra Morris, Outstanding Listener Awards; and Shanna Benji, Remy Solomon, David Lerman and Shelby Moghavem, Distinguished Service Awards.
This year’s luncheon theme is “Change Happens When…” in recognition of the many young people whose lives are transformed through TEEN LINE.
TEEN LINE is an affiliated program of Cedars-Sinai and has been serving the greater Los Angeles community since 1980. Its flagship program is a confidential teen-to-teen hotline that receives more than 10,000 calls, texts and emails each year. More than 38,000 participants annually attend TEEN LINE events at schools and community forums and many more access their outstanding website. Services include renowned suicide prevention programs, a robust anti-bullying campaign, and substance abuse education.