A red carpet welcomed more than 120 guests to the annual Night to Shine event at First Baptist Church of Plant City on Feb. 8.
Sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation, the night acts as a free, unforgettable prom for those with special needs ages 14 years old and up. The parents often join their children and watch from the balcony above as they dance with their buddies, karaoke in two designated party rooms, enjoy dinner, take part in a photo booth and enjoy a limo ride.
Kayla Clenney is on the committee for the Plant City Night to Shine and ran the karaoke rooms the night of the big event. She said watching the attendees flood the room last year to karaoke all night was an experience unlike any other and she was looking forward to expanding the offering to two rooms this year.
It was one of the hottest parties in town as everyone from the Strawberry Queen and Court to Mr. and Ms. Berry themselves showed up to dance the night away at the prom.
“We do this because we love the people in our community, we love absolutely everyone in our community,” Lauren McNair, chair of the event, said. “We have an exceptional community here, we have an exceptional community with special needs and we want them to know how much we value them, we want their smiles to know how much we value them. We hope when they walk away from tonight they know they are fearfully and wonderfully made. We hope they know they are loved.”
On top of the more than 120 guests were approximately 100 parents and 250 volunteers. Last year there were a little more than 400 total attendees so McNair said the event is slowly growing.
It takes months of preparation, but as the smiles throughout the room show it was worth every second of planning. Everyone was decked to the nines in their prom apparel and were laughing up a storm when they gathered their friends to do a weaving conga line and grabbed a mic to belt out a moving rendition of Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive” in the karaoke room.
“Our favorite parts for our volunteers is the red carpet,” McNair said. “It’s so much fun to see them walk in and see them treated like celebrities. For our guests I’ve been told it’s a tie between the dance floor and the karaoke room. Those stay packed all night.”