Stand Up and Get Down for Teens 2014 Fundraising Campaign | Kim Brattain Media

Tonight is Stand Up and Get Down for Teens. This is our annual fundraiser where we come together as a community and really do just that. It's really a great time. We have 350 of our closest friends coming tonight to help us raise money to take care of teens in our community.

Well, I think any party is cool when you can have a good time, you can eat good food, you can bid on wonderful stuff, and it's all for a good cause. When you have an opportunity to enjoy giving away money, it's more fun.

Today is really special, you know, as we honor Paul Risk for his years of tireless service serving our teens and adolescents in Mecklenburg County. So I'm really excited to be here, to be amongst my colleagues and peers and really my friends that help us to do this difficult work.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the stage the 2014 recipient of the Teen Health Connections' most prestigious honor, the Dr. John G. Johnston Award, Mr. Paul Risk.

Wow, I'm overwhelmed. Thank you very much. I want to thank Teen Health and the board for this award tonight, but more for their help in the community. When you think about our community, It really does take a coalition. It takes all of us working together. And I want to thank you, because without you, Teen Health wouldn't be here.

We're the only practice in the region that addresses medical and mental health needs of teenagers and that also does outreach in the community through schools, through houses of faith, through other community organizations to help teens and their parents.

I'm very proud of Teen Health Connection and what all the staff and the board and all the stakeholders have done. I think they've been fabulous.

Oh my gosh, it is so much fun. I look forward to this all year from last year. The band is so much fun, the comedian is a ride, and the whole night just is, is something to celebrate.