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Celebrities turn out for 6th Annual Rise Up Gala started by Las Vegas band Imagine Dragons

Posted at 11:26 PM, Sep 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-07 10:13:25-04

The 6th Annual Rise Up Gala was held Friday night at the Wynn Las Vegas. The gala featured celebs from sports, movies and music but everyone in attendance was there to celebrate the Tyler Robinson Foundation and the work it does to help families whose children have cancer.

Imagine Dragons front man Dan Reynolds is a Las Vegas native who has never forgotten the community where he grew up or why the group started the foundation in 2013.

"You know, when you have a child that has cancer,” said Reynolds. "I have three little kids. I have a fourth on the way and I could never, ever imagine having a diagnosis of cancer. We are doing all we can to raise funds to help them to support them and to show them that they have a community here and Vegas has done an amazing job of supporting that."

The foundation supports the needs of children like two-year-old Jordan Rey, who got the chance to walk the red carpet with his mom and dad. They are just one family whose lives have been upended by pediatric cancer.

"And just financially they have helped us. My husband stopped working so that he could take care of Jordan,” said Jordan’s mother Carrie. “We were going to the clinic up to five times a week we were in the hospital over 50 days last year alone.”

A frequent part of her famous nephew’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Concetta “Aunt Chippy” Potenza also walked the red carpet.

“You know it’s funny when you get to 80 years old and you know that there are children that are sick it makes you sad,” she said. “And then you say what can I do? What is that I can possibly do? Well, you can’t really be God but you can put yourself in a place where you can try and help them in other ways.”

The 2019 Rise Up Gala featured honorary chair Shaquille o' Neal and aimed to $2.5 million.

"It’s a great turnout,” said Vegas Golden Knight forward Alex Tuch. "It’s for a great cause and so we are really happy to be a part of the Imagine Dragons experience."