"Laughter Is the Best Medicine Comedy Night" Opens Text2Give Option

FORT MYERS, Fla. - June 28, 2017 - PRLog -- SalusCare is offering a new option for people to vote for their favorite celebrity in preparation for "Laughter Is the Best Medicine Comedy Night" Saturday, July 22.

A limited number of tickets are still available for the event, according to SalusCare Development Committee Chair Sue Ackert, but Text2Give will give everyone an opportunity to support their favorite celebrity.

"It's a unique way for folks to participate who aren't able to attend," she said. "They can vote for their favorite comic with their dollars by texting a message in advance to SalusCare."

The dollars raised in the Text2Give program will be added to the live donations received the night of the event to determine the winner, she said.

VIP tickets are $175 each and include reception with the comedians, heavy hors-d'oeuvres, beer/wine and show.  General admission tickets are $125 each for dessert, beer/wine and show only.  The VIP reception begins at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.  Tickets are available at www.saluscarecomedynight.org.

Six local celebrities each will perform a five-minute stand-up routine at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers.  The celebrity who receives the most donations will be named "Lee County's Best Comic for 2017."

To vote for your favorite comic, text SALUSCARE to 243725 and follow the link you are provided after texting.  Each comic has a day specifically set aside for them:

●  Wednesday, July 12 - Chris Hansen – Lee Health Board Member and Park Royal Hospital;

●  Thursday, July 13 – Cole Peacock – RC Peacock Consulting;

●  Friday, July 14 – Dayna Harpster – WGCU Expressions Editor;

●  Saturday, July 15 – Will Prather – Broadway Palm Owner;

●  Sunday, July 16 – Frank Mann – Lee County Commissioner;

●  Monday, July 17 – Charles Runnells – News-Press Arts & Entertainment reporter.

Nationally recognized Comedian Michael Palascak of NBC's Last Comic Standing will serve as emcee for the evening as well as perform his stand-up comedy routine.  Fellow professional comedian Pat McGann will round out the evening by performing the grand finale while the votes are being counted.

Bill Smith Appliances and Park Royal Behavioral Health Services are the Headliner sponsors of the event.  Lee Health is the event's Table/Linen Sponsor.  Monologue sponsors are Accent Business Products, Assuage Luxury Spa/Dr. Stephen Prendiville, Genoa Healthcare, Leading Edge Benefit Advisors, Lee County Sheriff's Office, Lykes Insurance, Millennium Physician Group, and Vicki and Richard Pitbladdo.   The Grand Finale Comic Sponsor is the Marieb College of Health & Human Services at Florida Gulf Coast University.

The News-Press Media Group is the media sponsor.

Other sponsorships are available from $500 to $10,000.

"Laughter Is the Best Medicine not only showcases our local celebrities, but gives everyone an opportunity to support a charity that provides mental health and substance use treatment for more than 16,000 people per year," Ackert said.

Funds raised at the event will be used to provide outpatient psychiatry and therapy to children and adolescents in our area whose families can least afford it.   One in 10 children has serious mental health problems severe enough to impair how they function at home, in school, or in the community, according to the National Center for Children & Poverty at Columbia University.  Left untreated, mental illnesses can lead to more difficult to treat illnesses and to the development of co-occurring disorders.

For more information about "Laughter Is the Best Medicine Comedy Night," contact Todd Cordisco at (239) 791-1575 or visit www.saluscarecomedynight.org

About SalusCare, Inc.

SalusCare, Inc., is the largest, most comprehensive mental health and substance abuse treatment program in Southwest Florida, serving more than 16,000 people per year of all ages from seven locations in Lee County.   The non-profit organization offers crisis stabilization, outpatient and residential treatment and an Employee Assistance Program for about 40 area companies. The majority of programs are accredited by CARF, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

SalusCare services are not free.  Fees are charged on a sliding scale, based on family income.  In many cases, private insurance is accepted.  SalusCare is a United Way partner agency.