2024 JED Gala Celebrates 25 Years of Impact and Raises $3.9 Million

The Jed Foundation (JED) raised a record-breaking $3.9 million at its annual gala at Cipriani Wall Street on Monday, June 3. The sold-out event brought together more than 740 attendees in support of youth mental health and suicide prevention. 

Hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Savannah Sellers, the event honored mental health advocates and raised funds so JED can continue to scale its life-saving work, including its academic programs, which reach more than 6.5 million students nationwide.

“Today, The Jed Foundation has partnered with more than 1,200 high schools, school districts, colleges, and universities to assess and strengthen their programs, policies, and systems to promote student well-being and reduce risks for suicide,” said U.S. Senator Cory Booker. “I want to thank Phil and Donna [Satow] for being so visionary to turn their pain into such extraordinary progress. Tonight, we also honor all those who use their voices, talents, and resources to prevent the devastating impact of emotional distress, mental illness, and suicide.” 

Honoring Mental Health Champions

Phillip M. Satow, JED co-founder, board member, and former chairman of the board, received the Visionary Award for his unwavering commitment to JED’s mission to provide young people with the tools and support they need to thrive into adulthood. Robert Kraft, CEO of the New England Patriots and JED gala co-chair, and Dana Kraft, a board-certified ophthalmologist and JED gala co-chair, presented the award to Satow, who spoke about the purpose and promise behind the foundation. 

“Donna and I founded The Jed Foundation in order to answer the question that Jed’s college president asked us in 1999: ‘What should I do for a student body of 30,000 to keep them safe?’” Satow said. “If we could answer that question — while it couldn’t save our Jed, it might offer other families a path to avoiding our pain.”

Satow reflected on the emotional complexities of being a young adult in today’s world and how many families are often left in the dark about the challenges their teens face.

“Jed himself was described by one of his closest friends as being an old soul with a young heart. He was caring, and affectionate, and felt emotions deeply. He had a lot of friends — but there was so much going on beneath the surface that his family and even his best friends didn’t know,” Satow said. “Countless families, unfortunately, have their own stories of missing key hurdles and setbacks. The impact that unaddressed teen and young adult emotional distress can have — not just for the young person, but for their families and friends — can be devastating.” 

That’s why part of JED’s mission — which Satow has helped shape and staunchly supported — is to give young people the tools to ask for help when they need it. 

Additionally, Maybelline New York received the 2024 Corporate Voice of Mental Health Award for its work promoting candid conversations about mental health in its Brave Together program, which includes Brave Talk, a mental health training developed in partnership with JED. The free 90-minute training is designed to be delivered by college staff to students so they have the skills to support peers who may be struggling and help connect them to care.

“It is truly an honor to have Maybelline New York be recognized by The Jed Foundation as a brand making an impact on global mental health,” said Trisha Ayyagari, global brand president for Maybelline New York. “It is a testament to the important work our NGO partners are doing on the ground. Our goal is to make free one-to-one support accessible to everyone. We still have a long way to go and are fully committed.”

Centering Youth Voices in the Conversation 

The evening also spotlighted JED’s 2024 Student Voice of Mental Health Award Winners, Rick Yang, a Harvard-bound senior at Scarsdale High School in New York, and Areli Rosales, an El Paso native and sophomore at the University of Texas San Antonio. Both recipients spoke about the importance of overcoming cultural barriers to mental health care, the power of talking openly about well-being, and the need to put youth at the forefront of mental health policymaking. 

“I am grateful for the journey that has gotten from being a survivor of a suicide attempt to now being on the stage of the nation’s leading nonprofit in suicide prevention for youth,” Rosales said. “I am here tonight through the power of vulnerability and the strength that is found in addressing our mental health.” 

Inspiring Hope Through Music

Throughout the evening, guests were treated to moving performances from the Young People’s Chorus of New York City; Grammy-winning and Tony-nominated actor Jenn Colella; Drama Desk Award–nominated actor Liam Pearce; and Tony-, Emmy-, Grammy-, and Pulitzer-winning composer Thomas Robert Kitt.

Their performances touched on themes of offering support, building confidence, and finding purpose and joy.

Looking to the Future

JED CEO John MacPhee spoke of the power of JED’s academic programs and how they will continue to reach students across the country.

“In a mental health training at a Brooklyn high school: Immediately after the training, a student came forward to let the school know that they had a close friend in crisis, and then another student came forward who was in crisis themselves and needed and asked for immediate help,” MacPhee said. “That’s the result of just one session at one school. The Jed Foundation is about purposefully bringing this kind of impact to scale across thousands of schools.” 

View more photos from the evening.

To support JED’s transformative work, visit jedfoundation.org/donate/.