The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
This Night to Shine proves a glowing hit
Painesville Baptist Church, local businesses and volunteers team up to put on a prom-like event for those with disabilities
Painesville Baptist Church joined along with hundreds of churches across the country for a Night to Shine on Feb. 8.
Created by the Tim Tebow Foundation, Night to Shine offers people with special needs a prom-like event tailormade to leave them with an unforgettable experience. Painesville Baptist Church made sure to make good on that promise starting with a fleet of limousines provided by Shima Limousine for party attendees to arrive at the doors in.
Painesville Baptist rolled out the red carpet, literally, and lined it with “paparazzi.” Photographers from both Linda Terdan and Steven M. Hale photography studios snapped shots of the guests of honor as they entered. Each male and female in attendance received a crown or tiara.
Event organizer Rev. Stoney Drain explained, “because every one of them is a king and queen.”
Several rooms were dedicated to specific functions for the event. There was a sensory room replete with lava lamps and cooling colors where guests who may have become overstimulated or overwhelmed
Painesville Baptist rolled out the red carpet, literally, and lined it with “paparazzi.”
were allowed a moment to themselves away from the lights and music.
The room proved just one of multiple aspects that made the event an incredibly thoughtful and impactful night for those in attendance.
A DJ, provided through All About You Entertainment, was on hand spinning tracks and encouraging guests to cut up the dance floor.
Additionally, guests had equal fun belting out the vocals for some of their favorite songs in a separate karaoke stage.
The structure of the event offered a measure of independence with each of the guest’s accompanying guardian directed toward a separate lounge where they were served catered Chik-fil-A and given hair stylings courtesy of local stylist Jenniffer and Co. all while watching the event over closed-circuit television.
There were also photo booths to capture memories of the night.
The separate styles to the booths including a wedding theme which allowed guests to try on formal hats and masks to strike the perfect pose and a more traditional prom setting.
The event was open to any and all with disabilities and served to highlight the wide range of differences that made each of the night’s guests so unique.
Physical impediments to typical proms like blindness, paralysis, heart conditions, or cerebral palsy held no one back.
Mental and developmental issues like Down syndrome or autism no longer left those afflicted on the outside looking in.
Painesville Township’s Night to Shine did so brightly through a community effort that saw volunteers from Perry High School, Lake Erie College, and members from the church and surrounding communities become involved in numerous ways.
The impetus for Painesville Baptist’s involvement with the Tim Tebow Foundation’s Night to Shine was summed up by the mission statement Drain ascribed to the church, “Love God, love one another, serve the community, and that’s what we do.”
“Love God, love one another, serve the community, and that’s what we do.” Event organizer Rev. Stoney Drain