Image Credit: Jill’s House Tebow Hosts ‘Night to Shine’ for Special Needs Kids
One night, one prom, but in 50 different cities at once the Tim Tebow Foundation, headed by former Heisman trophy winner and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, celebrated its five year anniversary with a “Night to Shine” prom for children with special needs.
The prom simultaneously happened in partnership with 45 different churches in 26 states and two countries, Uganda and Kenya. The foundation’s mission is to bring faith, hope, and love to those in their darkest hour.
One of the prom celebrations took place at Jill’s House, a 45,000-square-foot facility in Vienna, Virginia, with Christian trained caretakers for children with special needs, giving their families a much needed break.
The event began with a red carpet entrance and the children being greeted with their own personal host for the evening.
“Well for tonight the goal is to just celebrate these children, to create an atmosphere where they feel accepted and loved and just celebrated,” Dana Hecht, director of Family Support at Jill’s House, told CBN News.
“The Tim Tebow Foundation’s desire is to celebrate individuals with special needs and to give back, and obviously that’s what we do so it was a win-win,” Hecht said.
Getting the VIP treatment, the children received flowers, hair, and makeup and even a shoe shine. Some of the children from Jill’s House returned for this special night, including Anna.
“Just the attention she gets here, it’s really awesome, just individualized, personalized attention,” Anna’s mother Kelly told CBN News. “And she’s not wondering if she’s going to be competing with the sibling to get attention. Someone’s just here to talk to her and to work with her.”
After learning about Anna’s excitement for the prom, a group of nurses got together to create a beautiful princess dress just for her to wear. Anna said she felt like Elsa from ‘Frozen’ but “with sass.”
Each child in attendance was crowned Prom King or Queen, while also taking home prom favors and a smile that was nothing short of contagious.
“So many of the families say that the world feels like a place that their children don’t fit and so tonight it’s all about them being able to bring their kids here and having them fit in for exactly who they are and to celebrate who they are,” Hecht said.
Source: Angela Zotopek Reporter CBN News 700 Club
