Martin & Martin Proudly Sponsors the 6th Annual Evening Under the Stars Gala
October 22, 2011
On Sunday, October 9, the attorneys at the Martin & Martin attended the 6th Annual Evening Under the Stars gala – the flagship fundraiser to raise money for Special Needs Network (SNN)’s host of programs that benefit children and families with special needs living in underserved communities in Los Angeles.This year’s Evening Under the Stars gala was held at the Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center. With over 400 guests in attendance, the event was SNN’s biggest yet – and raised the most amount of funds to help sustain the organization’s list of programs, such as Camp JPAC, the only free summer inclusion camp for children with special needs and their siblings aged 5-16.
Hosted by CBS2/KCAL9 news anchor, Sandra Mitchell, this year’s gala honored a number of important figures making an impact in the autism community. Including Dr. David Carlisle, the newly elected President of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science; Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, producers of Dear John, the Twilight series, and the new ABC show Revenge; and Dr. Tumani Leatherwood and Dr. Jose Cervantes, directors of the first Kaiser Permanente medical office in South Los Angeles.
A special Local Hero Award was presented to CA State Senate President pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, a tremendous champion of the autism community and author of SB 946, titled Health Care Cover: Mental Illness – Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Autism, which was signed by Governor Jerry Brown just hours before the celebration. This new health insurance mandate requires insurance companies to cover mental illnesses at the same level they cover physical ailments.
“I am excited that we have such wonderful humanitarians and advocates who are participating and being honored at this year’s event. In doing so, they help further our cause of continuously servicing and caring for underserved special needs children and families,” said Managing Partner Areva Martin, Esq. who co-founded Special Needs Network in 2005 after her son was diagnosed with autism.
