- Volunteers are making final preparations for Night to Shine Tallahassee, the special needs prom.
- At least 1100 volunteers and 530 guests are expected to attend.
- Watch the video to get an inside look at how a large community effort has come to life.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
We are in the home stretch for Night to Shine Tallahassee! Volunteers have spent long hours curating the ultimate prom experience for our special needs community.
Bring on the balloons, crowns and the red carpet!
Immanuel Baptist Church is almost Night to Shine ready.
Following the cancellation of the special needs prom in January, neighbors from across our communities stepped up to still make it happen within just one month.
Now fewer than 24 hours to the big event, it's all about the finishing touches!
Volunteers Vickie Bass & Lori McCoy said: "We have been working on centerpieces. We have been doing balloon arches. We've been decorating our karaoke room, our shoe shining, our hair and makeup rooms, our foyers. We have a red carpet. So, everybody is just pitching in and has been doing a great job. We're so thankful."
McCoy and Bass are two of dozens who have spent a lot of their time preparing the campus before 1,100 volunteers and buddies and 500-plus guests join them on Friday.
"I'm excited," said Guest & Volunteer Canisha McLillian. "I'm going to the prom! Woo!
With activities and accommodations like shoe shining, animal therapy, hair and makeup and sensory rooms— Night to Shine is expected to be more than just your traditional prom.
"We just want it to be outstanding," said Bass. "We want it to be the best night ever for our guests that they remember this as just an incredible night, and so we want pizzazz and glitz and glamour, and we want them to feel honored on this night."
To see the community's sacrifice and determination finally come to fruition..
"Oh, girl, just brings tears to my eyes," said Bass.
"We really feel that Tallahassee is embodying what the Tim Tebow Foundation would like to see in the community, and that is that the whole community gets involved in this," Elizabeth Crawford, Chair of Night to Shine Tallahassee. "It's not just the church that's sponsoring it, it's the whole community and I definitely think Tallahassee has stepped up for this one."
Prom begins at 6 P.M. on Friday.
