Joel McHale to Host Point Foundation Gala Honoring HBO and Choreographer Travis Wall

Point Foundation Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary and its Founders at Point Honors Gala in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Point Foundation (Point), the nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students of merit, today announced the recipients of its Inspiration and Horizon Awards. The Inspiration Award will be awarded to HBO, while So You Think You Can Dance choreographer and dancer Travis Wall will receive the Point Horizon Award. The awards will be presented at the Point Honors 5th Annual Los Angeles Gala, which will be held on September 24, 2011 at the Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood, CA.

The Point Inspiration Award recognizes a company that champions respect and inclusion of the LGBT community, and operates with the vision that the success achieved by talented young people is limited only by the resources and opportunities they are given to help them fulfill their potential. The Point Horizon Award recognizes a young trailblazer who has taken a leadership role as an advocate of the LGBT community by showing unwavering support.

Celebrating 10 years of community involvement, Point will also honor founders Bruce Lindstrom, Carl Strickland and John Pence. Granting only eight scholarships in its first year, Point Foundation has grown tremendously over the last decade. As a result of the founders' commitment to education and their perseverance to make a difference in the LGBT community, the organization has, in total, supported 195 scholars in various disciplines including law, political science, medicine, education and visual and performing arts. Since inception, Point has granted more than $12 million in programmatic support of LGBT's future leaders.

"As we celebrate Point's achievements and growth over the last 10 years, it is only fitting that we recognize and honor the founders who are responsible for affecting positive change in the lives of hundreds of well-deserving LGBT," said Jorge Valencia, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Point Foundation.  "However, there is still a great need that has yet to be met and we hope that with the support of our community and allies, we can offer even more funding, mentorship and leadership training in the decades to come."  

Students who are awarded the organization's prestigious scholarships, known as Point Scholars, are selected through a rigorous and highly competitive process that requires a track record of demonstrated academic excellence, leadership skills and financial need. A number of Point Scholars will attend the benefit.

The evening will be hosted by comedian Joel McHale, best known for hosting E!'s wildly popular show The Soup and for his role as Jeff Winger on NBC's Community.  "Point Foundation's commitment to education of LGBT students is terrific. I've learned a lot. Such as what LGBT stands for," said Joel McHale. "I am excited to be a part of this special 10-year anniversary event. So much so, I'm going to dress up."

The Point Honors Los Angeles Gala includes a lively dinner and awards program, as well as celebrity appearances. Point is proud to announce sponsors of this event include Audi, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Wells Fargo, Grey Goose and Coca-Cola.

Ticket and table sales opportunities are available now. To purchase, call (323) 933-1234 or visit http://www.pointfoundation.org/losangeles/. Sponsorship opportunities are also available by contacting Alan Uphold at (323) 933-1234 or [email protected].

To learn more about Point Foundation, visit us at www.facebook.com/pointfoundation or www.twitter.com/pointfoundation.

About Point Foundation
Point Foundation (Point) is the nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students of merit. Point provides financial support, leadership training, mentoring and hope to LGBT individuals who are marginalized because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Point provides its scholars with the financial ability to attend the nation's foremost higher educational institutions and its donors and mentors with the rare satisfaction of directly investing their resources and time in future generations of leaders.  Since its inception in 2000, Point has helped over 190 individual scholars with over $5.3 million in direct financial support for their college education.

SOURCE Point Foundation