The 15th annual Family Day, hosted by the T.J. Martell Foundation, took place yesterday at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The event featured a variety of carnival games and arts and crafts, top-notch desserts (thanks to Cake Boss and Baked By Melissa), celebrity guests as well as performances by Pitbull, Timeflies, Bleachers, Us The Duo, and Bea MillerHilary Duff, who was celebrating her birthday, hosted the festivities.

This year's event honored RCA Records President/COO Tom Corson and his family for their support of the organization over the years. The foundation also, for the first time, honored an artist at the event, presenting Pitbull with the Artist Achievement Award.

We recently spoke to Family Day's chairman Marcus Peterzell about why the work the T.J. Martell Foundation is doing is so important.

"There is so much important cancer research being done. Unfortunately the current nature of cancer research is that we need more and more new treatments because there are so many different kinds of cancer," Peterzell told Music Times. "The reality is that the big funders, including the government, just can't fund them all. So there are a lot of great researchers who have some promising treatments and no one is able to fund them to see if they are even going to become real. That's where we put our funds. To me the ability to really do that early-stage funding and find a miracle cure is really important, and that's why the foundation's work is so important is that it provides that early funding."

Check out our photo slideshow above from yesterday's festivities and learn more about the T.J. Martell Foundation and their upcoming fundraising events here.

Join the Discussion