Boys become kings, girls queens at Tim Tebow prom experience

Northridge Christian Church in Milledgeville is hosting a prom experience for more than 100 people with special needs Friday night.

The event is a Tim Tebow Foundation Night to Shine, one of nearly 400 being held in 50 states and 12 countries.

Six of the guests are from the Heart of Georgia DDM in Warner Robins, an event organizer said.

“The Tim Tebow Foundation wants to take Valentine’s weekend, which is generally a weekend that everybody associates with love, a step further and associate it with God’s love for all people,” said Amy Raburn, Northridge’s mobilization pastor who is in charge of the event at the church.

“We believe that God loves everybody, and, so, we wanted this night to be a night where people with special needs would be able to shine, and our volunteers will shine, but more importantly, that God’s love will be able to shine as well,” Raburn said.

More than 670 volunteers are expected to roll out the red carpet for the arrival of the special guests.

The three-hour event from 6-9 p.m. includes a hair and makeup station, a shoe-shining station, food, dancing, karaoke and more.

Guests receive corsages and flowers, a limousine ride from one side of the church to other where the red carpet is set up, applause from well wishers as they enter and their photos made.

“At the end of the night we do a crowning ceremony where all the guys get crowned kings of the prom and all the girls get crowned the queens,” Raburn said. “So everybody is a king, and everybody is a queen.”

Each guest will also receive a Tim Tebow Foundation commemorative frame.

The Milledgeville Jaycees, Georgia College and The Life Enrichment Center partnered with the church in putting the event together.

“It’s really a community event,” Rayburn said. “We’ve had just a ton of sponsors and people that have just given of their time and talent to help us pull this off.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Boys become kings, girls queens at Tim Tebow prom experience."