By Mary O’KEEFE

The power of laughter has been discussed, lauded, studied and written about for years. It seems that no matter how dark the days, a bit of laughter can bring at least a temporary reprieve. That is the basis of the recent event Clap for a Cause.

The event was an idea born from an observation made by Harout Keuroghlian, a cancer survivor who had noticed during his many visits to the hospital the plight of teens who were diagnosed with cancer.

“Teens seemed to have the most amount of issues to deal with,” he said.

The teenage years are not the easiest of times. There are social skills being honed, worries about schoolwork and issues about boy/girl friends, clothing, social media, parent turmoil and on and on. Add to this time of development a diagnosis of cancer.

“They aren’t seeing friends anymore because they are stuck in the hospital,” Keuroghlian added.

He started Toys for Teens as a way to reach out to teenagers with cancer and to help them through the difficult times they were facing.

“This year my doctor at the City of Hope [Cancer Research Hospital] said he needed help with the [lymphoma] department,” Keuroghlian said. “We put together Clap for a Cause.”

Keuroghlian is a realtor with JohnHart Real Estate, which sponsored the event. They hired four comedians and held the event at Star on Brand in Glendale.

“We were sold out in the first couple of weeks,” he said.

Comedians Brett Riley, Alex Thomas, Dorian and Rudy Moreno performed to an audience of about 320 at the event that raised over $30,000 for the City of Hope.

Keuroghlian was happily surprised by all the support the event received and how well it went, especially since they had only three weeks to pull it together. He added that the event had tens of thousands of views on social media and had been shared repeatedly.

Fundraiser supporters included the entire JohnHart agency and Glendale Chief of Police Robert Castro.

“That made me feel good,” Keuroghlian said but added that all the attention at first was a concern.

“I thought we had better deliver,” he joked.

And they did – so much so they are planning to do it again next year.

Keuroghlian’s philosophy is to give back and to be grateful for every moment.

“We are so fortunate to be alive, and have a [good] life. We are working and successful and we had better give back,” he said.

He said he is lucky to work at a company that believes in that same philosophy.

“This is part of what we do in the community,” he said.

He added that when he hears others complain about small everyday issues it upsets him. He thinks that people need to realize what they have and to be grateful.

With so many facing issues that are so great, why complain about the small stuff?

  Mary Okeefe