James Stephens III was 8 years old when his father was severely injured in a car accident, leaving his mother to care for seven children on her own.

In the end she didn't have to, because a local teacher and his wife stepped in, and Stephens suddenly had a surrogate family to help raise him.

"They treated me as if I were their child," Stephens said of his second family. "I could never forget what that couple did for me. I wanted to give back."

So after he became a successful comedian and actor, Stephens started The James Stephens III Scholarship Foundation. Saturday marks the foundation's 20th anniversary, and Stephens will celebrate with a celebrity-filled party in Raleigh to raise scholarship money.

Harold Melvin's Blue Notes will provide the music. Ernest Thomas ("What's Happening!!"), Denise Burse ("House of Payne") and Geri Reischl ("The Brady Bunch Hour") are among the TV stars who are scheduled to attend. Lucille O'Neal, Shaquille's mom, and Stedman Graham, Oprah's partner, are also on the guest list.

Stephens grew up in Dillon County, S.C., where his second family made sure he did his schoolwork, and that he got a chance to do the stuff that kids do, such as attend camp. The youngest sibling, Stephens was the first one to get a college degree.

As an actor and comedian, he appeared in TV shows with Jennifer Aniston and Dana Carvey, and was on "Friday Night Videos." About eight years ago, he met his wife, a Raleigh doctor, on a Caribbean cruise ship where he was providing stand-up entertainment.

For love, Stephens left Los Angeles and relocated to the Triangle.

Stephen's wife, Tammi, grew up in a rough neighborhood outside Philadelphia and understood how important it can be for children to have mentors outside the immediate family. After her mom died when she was a child, coaches and teachers stepped in to show her the way. A talented runner, she earned a track scholarship for college, which put her on the path toward more advanced degrees.

Today, she mentors young track athletes on her own.

By the time Tammi and James met on the cruise ship, he already had spent years raising scholarship money for kids near his childhood home in South Carolina.

After moving the fundraisers to the Triangle, the couple upped the celebrity quotient, tapping into Stephens' contacts in the entertainment world.

The foundation provides $1,000 awards and laptop computers for graduating high school seniors in North and South Carolina. Interested students write essays, and a panel chooses the scholarship winners.

"I use my foundation," Stephens said, "to motivate children."