Whenever you think of community a couple words might come to mind, cooperation, fellowship, and the want to make things better. Clark County aims to do just that. Jesus Prom is an event that has been held in Clark County in the past but haven’t been able to do in the last couple of years. Steve Crosby, an elder and the Minister of family and worship at Calvary Christian and Keegan Hatton, his daughter and the Jesus Prom Coordinator, are helping to get Clark County back into the mix with starting this great event back up.
“Jesus Prom is an event that aims to strengthen the relationship of the special needs community of Clark County,” said Hatton. “We give the kids with disabilities a chance to have a prom for themselves, we give them a limo ride, and paparazzi, and all sorts of things.”
Jesus Prom was put on by Calvary Christian Church and the full community poured in to make this event the best it could be.
“Calvary used to do this event yearly but we haven’t been able to do it in 6 years,” said Crosby. “Us as a church have taken it upon ourselves to start this experience back up, along with us the Stride program is also helping give us information for the kiddos that will be attending this night to remember.”
This event isn’t like any other dance though. A lot of critical thinking goes into the planning of the event, ranging from location, food, and transportation.
“There are special circumstances that we have to consider like diet and mobility that have to be taken into account,” said Crosby. “There also needs to be a village of volunteers, which our high school students within our church family are graciously being, and there is also a theme for the dance that every volunteer follows to make it as special as possible for the kids.”
Hatton said there’s one thing that separates this dance far apart from any other dance she has been to, or helped out with.
“They love to dance, they will dance non stop till midnight if you let them,” said Hatton. “They leave everything on that dance floor. I love to see the pure joy on the kids’ faces whenever they hear a song and start to dance, the joy starts to become contagious within the volunteers as well. As the night goes along, you’ll start to notice the volunteers having as much fun with the kids as the kids are having, it brings joy to my heart every time I see it.”
Kase Gillespie was one of the volunteers that helped out with Jesus Prom and he has walked away changed.
“It feels great to do things for people that deserve it, especially for those that might not have gotten the opportunity to do dances or things of that nature without our help,” says Gillespie. “I would 100 percent recommend it to anyone, it’s so much fun and it will open up your eyes to see the blessings that god has given us.”
