TEEN LINE LUNCHEON ADDRESSES "SURVIVING IN A DIGITAL WORLD"

Los Angeles – (May 7, 2015) TEEN LINE, the confidential teen-to-teen hotline, honored The Herzer Family with the “Above and Beyond Family Award” and Ellie Schneir and Peter Mezza with the “Humanitarian Award” at the annual Food for Thought Luncheon today, Thursday, May 7th, 2015 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills. Actor/director Gabriel Sunday, hosted. The Sumner Redstone Foundation was Presenting Sponsor.

Prior to the luncheon, a boutique showcasing fashionable items for purchase was featured .with a portion of proceeds benefitting TEEN LINE.

Event Co-Chairs, Stephanie Bronson and Jane McCord welcomed the more than guests before introducing Elaine Leader, PhD. TEEN LINE Executive Director who introduced a video presentation documenting the work of the program and its myriad successes. 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.

Through its hotline, website and outreach TEEN LINE, affiliated with Cedars-Sinai, provides a safety net for teenagers. Many who reach out to TEEN LINE for help are dealing with troubled relationships that involve verbal, emotional or physical abuse. This year’s theme, “Surviving In a Digital World,” recognizes how the digital world has impacted how TEEN LINE responds to today’s youth. Electronic communication has elevated peer pressure to become sexually active while cyber bullying is an all too frequent occurrence. Reaching TEEN LINE’s trained peers through digital media brings help to those who may never have reached out before. The highly-acclaimed Youth Yellow Pages – a resource handbook of which over a million copies have been distributed – is now available as an APP, making it even easier to access.

Afternoon’s host Gabriel Sunday presented nine of the 120 teen volunteers with awards recognizing their exceptional dedication to the program. They included “Teen VOICE Award” honorees, Lili Cairl and Sophia Rogg; “Outstanding Listener Award” recipients, Emily Bisno and Nikolas Kroner; “Distinguished Service Award” honorees Paulina Grekov, Netanya Perluss and Arielle Tooch and “Teen Hero Award” recipients Eddie Katehakis and Edson Montenegro.

Teen honorees Eddie Katehakis, Edson Montenegro, Emily Bisno and Nikolas Kroner each described their experiences with TEEN LINE and how working with the organization had impacted their lives and empowered each as an individual. Lili Cairl and Sophia Rogg later recognized the RA’s (I think this means Resident Avisor, but you should check) for their invaluable assistance.

Ellie Schneir and Peter Mezza, who tragically lost their son Matthew to suicide at age 14, were honored with TEEN LINE’s “Humanitarian Award,” presented by Sunday, for speaking at schools and community agencies to help others understand the pain of this kind of loss and to help prevent other such tragedies.

The Herzer Family, recipients of TEEN LINE’s “Above & Beyond Family Award” were recognized for their on-going support of the organization. Their daughter Kathrine, a TEEN LINE volunteer since 2012, is currently on leave from the program while filming her co-starring role in CBS-TV’’s hit show “Madam Secretary”.

The afternoon concluded with the introduction of Michelle Carlson as TEEN LINE’S new Executive Director with Elaine Leader assuming the role of Founder.

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