Award Winning Actor Jeremy Piven Will Host Face Forward's 9th Annual Gala , Honoring the Doctor's Jay McGraw, Christopher Bollenbach & Fox's Christine Devine Will Emcee

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Aug. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The 2018 "La Dolce Vita" Face Forward Gala will feature Actor/Comedian Jeremy Piven as the evening's celebrity host with honored guests Jay McGraw and Christopher Bollenbach on September 22nd at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons. The Beverly Hills based non-profit organization is celebrating 10 years of providing reconstructive surgery for women, children, and men who have been victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, or any cruel acts of crime. Both Jeremy and Jay have supported several charitable causes and consistently give back to their community. Jay has specifically offered a platform for Face Forward to showcase their work on The Doctors. CEO of Downtown L.A's Bottega Louie, Christopher Bollenbach will also be honored for his philanthropy and ongoing support of Face Forward. The Face Forward Annual Gala raises funds that directly support patient treatment and recoveries, airfare, accommodations, and all necessary medical expenses for survivors.

Founder of Face Forward and domestic violence survivor, Deborah Alessi along with her Co-founder and husband, Dr. David Alessi M.D., Beverly Hills renowned facial reconstructive surgeon, have provided millions of dollars in donating surgical and counseling services to nearly 80 patients from 10 different countries around the globe, some requiring up to ten or more surgeries each, over multiple years of treatment. In addition to the hundreds of surgeries that have been provided in direct services, through strategic partnerships with other nonprofit organizations and their own Patient Advocacy Board, Face Forward has also connected thousands more survivors with educational and counseling services, legal and employment referrals as well as educational scholarship opportunities. In recognition for their work, Face Forward was recently recognized by The Mary Byron Project with the "Celebrating Solutions Award" for fostering innovations and strategies to help end domestic violence.

In celebration of the organizations' 10-year anniversary, Face Forward hopes to raise over a million dollars in 2018 to support even more survivors from around the world.

"About eighty percent of our patient funding each year comes from our gala, so celebrating our tenth anniversary means we have to make it extra special to help raise the most money for surgeries that we ever have," said Deborah Alessi, Face Forward CEO/Founder, "this year in particular we have even more international survivors from places like Kenya, Sudan, Honduras, India and the UK, that will be coming for treatment and every dollar raised helps us change lives….one survivor at a time."

The evening will bring a taste of Rome's "sweet life" to Beverly Hills. Guests will get to enjoy many surprises, exciting performances, world class food, and a live and silent auction. Returning sponsors include: Etihad Airways, Niyama Private Islands Maldives, Alessi Institute, Crystal Cruises, Micato Safaris, and Roberto Cavalli. Face Forward is also excited to announce new sponsors Ardor Designs and Adva-Net. The live auction will include vacation packages from Niyama Private Islands Maldives, Crystal Cruises, Micato Safaris and Etihad Airways.The nights' performers and other celebrity guests will be announced shortly. visit http://www.faceforwardla.org

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About Face Forward
Since its creation in 2007, Face Forward has worked with community leaders around the world to identify victims of violence who are working toward recovery, yet carry the burdening physical evidence of past abuse. Face Forward does more than just provide pro bono reconstructive surgery to adults and children who have suffered traumatic and severe physical abuse, they also create a welcoming and safe environment for these survivors to start a fresh new life, and reclaim their confidence. The organization co-founders Mrs. Deborah and Dr. David Alessi both donate their time and skills 100% to the organization to provide Face Forward patients with the necessary surgeries and counseling services. Face Forward is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and funds raised by the organization help with ancillary costs, travel expenses for patients including airfare, accommodations, transportation, nursing aftercare and more. For more information go to http://www.faceforwardla.org/.

About Jeremy Piven

Jeremy Piven was most recently seen as a series regular in the CBS television series WISDOM OF THE CROWD. He was also recently seen as Harry Gordon Selfridge in the popular PBS series MR. SELFRIDGE. Among his many notable roles, Piven is best known as movie agent "Ari Gold" in the hit HBO series ENTOURAGE, which aired for eight seasons and won Piven three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. In 2015, Piven reprised the fan-favorite role in the ENTOURAGE feature film released by Warner Bros. He was also seen in SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR from directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. Jeremy's extensive career in television also includes the satirical THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW. In film, he starred in Mark Pellington's drama I MELT WITH YOU, Gaby Dellal's heart-wrenching ANGELS CREST, Gary Fleder's RUNAWAY JURY, Todd Phillips' hit comedy OLD SCHOOL, Ridley Scott's BLACK HAWK DOWN, Peter Chelsom's SERENDIPITY, Brett Ratner's THE FAMILY MAN, Peter Berg's VERY BAD THINGS and THE KINGDOM, Cameron Crowe's SINGLES, Joe Carnahan's SMOKIN ACES, Guy Ritchie's ROCKNROLLA, and THE PLAYER for director Robert Altman. In 2005, Piven returned to his theater roots starring in the off-Broadway hit FAT PIG by Neil LaBute, for which he received a Distinguished Performance Honor from the Drama League. He also appeared as Bobby Gould on Broadway in SPEED THE PLOW.

About Christopher Bollenbach

Christopher Bollenbach is the CEO of Bottega Louie Restaurant, Gourmet Market and Patisserie in Downtown Los Angeles. He has been a member of the board, and an investor in the celebrated restaurant since its founding by his brother, Keat, in 2007. Bollenbach graduated from Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. He spent 25 years in finance and banking at UBS, PaineWebber, Merrill Lynch and Citi Smith Barney. Along with his financial experience, Bollenbach has also served in a variety of executive management and directorship positions in agriculture, real estate development, tech, and hospitality. In addition to his work at Face Forward, Bollenbach has worked with a variety philanthropic endeavors including Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and Autism Speaks. Bollenbach dedicates his time to developing the next generation of leaders by working with at-risk high school students at the Academy of Business Leadership. He also served as a chairman for the Bollenbach Family Scholarship Fund - founded by his parents - which during his tenure sent over 60 students to college who otherwise could not afford it. Bollenbach currently serves as a trustee for Georgetown Preparatory School (his prep school Alma mater in Washington DC). As an native Angeleno, Bollenbach enjoys skiing, playing guitar, and traveling. He resides in Westwood, California with his wife Kendra, a Face Forward board member, and his daughter Anastasia.

About Jay McGraw

Jay McGraw is a writer, TV executive producer and son of TV doctor Phil McGraw. Jay produces the hit TV show 'The Doctors', has written several books aimed at young people, appeared on his father's TV show Dr Phil and served as executive producer on several. McGraw is president and CEO of Stage 29 Productions in Los Angeles, a company he co-founded with his father. He appeared as the host of Renovate My Family, which aired on Fox.

SOURCE Face Forward