CLARION, Pa., (EYT) – February 7th will be a Night To Shine for up to 100 Clarion area residents as they attend a prom at Hope Rising Church in Clarion.
Night To Shine is an unforgettable prom night experience for people with special needs who are age 14 and older. The program is the creation of former professional football player and current professional baseball player, Tim Tebow, through the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Jenya Moore, the children’s director at Hope Rising Church in Clarion, participated in Night to Shine in Pittsburgh; she thought it was time Clarion become involved, as well.
Moore applied for the Hope Rising to become an affiliate of Night to Shine program on the Tim Tebow Foundation website and were accepted to be a part of the event.
“Here at our church, we have some people with special needs,” Moore told exploreClarion.com. “To be able to incorporate our church family into the community in such an awesome way and is really going to allow everybody to shine.”
According to Hope Rising’s Pastor, Harry Hoff, the church has a growing special needs group.
“We welcome them, and we love them,” he said. “We’re a safe place for those with special needs and their families.”
There is no cost to attend Night to Shine.
The evening is considered formal, just like any prom.
Night to Shine participants should shop for a dress or tuxedo that shows off their personal style. Moore hopes they’ll have a parent or friends join them for the shopping trip which is a fun part of any prom experience.
Each participant will receive a crown, so they can be the Prom King or Queen for the evening.
The church will open its doors at 6:00 on prom night.
For those who may need a little help, there will a place where women can get their makeup and hair done.
There will be music from a disc jockey, a photo booth, dancing, food, and fun until 9:00.
Guests will get their pictures taken by the “paparazzi” as they walk the red carpet and pose for the camera.
“Families are welcome to come,” Moore said. “They can take pictures and hang out for a little bit. We’ll have room for them to stay in if they traveled far and don’t want to leave and come back.”
Each guest will have a volunteer who will be his/her buddy, which is kind of like their date, for the night. All volunteers will go through a background check.
There are 100 spots available for attendees, so registration is important. The deadline for guest registration is January 31.
“We really want to do it right the first year,” said Moore. “We want everyone to get the blessing they deserve. Then we’ll be able to grow in the future.”
The budget for this year’s Night to Shine is $17,000. Hope Rising welcomes any business partnerships or donations.
The Tim Tebow Foundations offers grants, but Hoff said they were confident that the Clarion Community could fund the event. Other churches may not be in areas that are so supportive, Hoff noted.
“There are so many people who want to do this,” Hoff explained. “Through a lot of prayers, we decided we didn’t want to pull from that resource. We’d rather have another church that may have fewer resources get money from that resource.”
In 2019, 655 churches from around the world came together to host Night to Shine for approximately 100,000 honored guests through the support of 200,000 volunteers.
Find out how to register, volunteer or donate for Night to Shine here.
