Gretchen Mol, Sandra Bernhard, Prince Amukamara and Others Celebrated 5 Years of Making Change Through Sports and Raised $331,000 at the Annual Up2Us Sports Gala

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 4, 2015) - Nonprofit Up2Us Sports hosted its third annual gala on June 3, 2015 at the IAC Building in New York and raised $331,000. The red-carpet cocktail event honored little league star pitcher Mo'ne Davis alongside her coach, Steve Bandura.

Over 300 guests joined Up2Us Sports for the evening gala to raise funds to support the training and placement of sports-based youth development coaches across the country. Notable guests such as Gretchen Mol, Nate Berkus, Sandra Bernhard, Carolyn Murphy and Rashad Jennings walked the red carpet at the gala event alongside Up2Us Sports Founder & CEO, Paul Caccamo and Board Member Dr. David Colbert of the New York Dermatology Group.

"We are excited to see sports-based youth development continue to grow across the nation and would like to thank everyone who joined us at the gala in support of Up2Us Sports," said Paul Caccamo, Founder & CEO of Up2Us Sports. "The relationship between Coach Steve and Mo'ne exemplifies how impactful a quality coach can be in a young person's life. Kids everywhere deserve quality sports programs and highly dedicated, well-trained coaches, so they can continue to enjoy, and excel, not just in sports, but in life."

During the gala, Up2Us Sports honored little league pitcher Mo'ne Davis of the Anderson Monarchs and the team's coach, Steve Bandura with the Up2Us Sports Legacy Award. They were recognized for providing a powerful example of what a positive player-coach relationship can do, both on and off the field. Also honored was veteran coach, Kleiton Almeida, who was recognized as Coach of the Year. Almeida was part of the first cohort of coaches trained through the Up2Us Sports initiative, Operation Coach.

Up2Us Sports gala sponsors included ESPN, Bloomin' Brands Inc., NYDG Foundation, Colbert MD, 21^st Century Fox, and the National Basketball Association.

To learn more about Up2Us Sports, please visit www.Up2UsSports.org. 

About Up2Us Sports

Established in 2010, Up2Us Sports (up2ussports.org) is leading a national movement to advance sports as a solution to the critical challenges facing today's youth, including childhood obesity, academic failure and youth violence. Up2Us Sports accomplishes its mission by uniting more than 1,000 sports programs that provide life skills development to this nation's most vulnerable youth. In 2010, Up2Us Sports launched Coach Across America (CAA) to provide its member organizations with well-trained, highly effective coaches. CAA is the first national service program that challenges young adults to give back to their communities through a year of service as coach-mentors. To date, Up2Us Sports has placed more than 1,700 CAA coach-mentors nationwide, reaching over 235,000 children. Up2Us Sports is supported by Mercedes-Benz USA, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA, Nike Inc., the Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Justice.