HealthCorps — the national service corps founded by Dr. Mehmet Oz that brings health mentoring and education into public schools across the United States — is holding its Green Garden Gala, an annual black (and green) tie fundraiser, tomorrow night at the World Financial Center in Manhattan.

The Gala aims to raise funds to establish HealthCorps’s curriculum in more schools and to honor actor and dancer Ben Vereen — an advocate of diabetes awareness, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and New York Philanthropist and CEO of the Red Apple Group John Catsimatidis for their  considerable contributions to the health and well-being of American youth. Check out this video about the event.

HealthCorps will also grant its first Music for a Better Life award to music legend Quincy Jones. The night will also feature performances from Wyclef Jean, Stepp Stewart, and Eturnity Band. Hip-hop mogul and vegan Russell Simmons will attend, among 500 other supporters.

In addition to the entertainment, the Gala will also incorporate elements of HealthCorps’s Mental Resilience curriculum into the evening’s activities, with booths set up to offer tastings of healthy foods, and to teach guests about reading food labels, for example.

The fundraiser (individual tickets to attend cost $1000) goes to support the activities of HealthCorps which currently places health coordinators in 44 public schools across the country to educate teens about healthy diet and lifestyle through tailored peer-mentoring and activism. The two-year term of service offers a stipend and benefits to coordinators, who are often recent college grads heading for a career in medicine or public health. (Note that HealthCorps isn’t currently affiliated with AmeriCorps, so the benefits structure is different from AmeriCorps service.)

HealthCorps is currently recruiting — check out the elegibility requirements and consider applying.

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