With the help of 100 award-winning celebrity chefs, Autism Speaks raised $1.25 million at its inaugural Autism Speaks to Los Angeles Celebrity Chef Gala, which took place October 8, 2015 at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. More than 600 guests, including Hollywood’s top industry execs and celebrities Conan O’Brien, Al Roker, P!nk and Giada De Laurentiis honored Autism Speaks co-founders Bob and Suzanne Wright and commemorated the organization’s ten years of progress. Grammy-award winning recording artist P!nk performed and made a surprise donation of $50,000 towards the Autism Speaks iPads grant program.

Following a cocktail reception hosted by Wolfgang Puck Catering, the program opened with remarks from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who commended The Wrights on their accomplishments over the last ten years and thanked the organization for bringing the New York gala to the West Coast. He then introduced late night comedian Conan O’Brien, who brought the laughs as host of the star-studded fundraiser. After a heartwarming speech by Curt Harper, a competitive surfer with autism, P!nk performed Beam Me Up with the song’s songwriter Billy Mann, a music executive and a national board member of Autism Speaks.