Williamsville Church to host virtual 'Night to Shine' prom celebration & 'Shine-Thru Parade' for people with special needs

Registration is still open for event sponsored by Tim Tebow Foundation

Epic Church Buffalo will host “Night to Shine” on Friday, Feb. 11, a prom night experience for people with special needs ages 14 and older that’s sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. Organizers are encouraging people to register for the prom night experience.

Now in its eighth year, “Night to Shine” celebrates people with special needs and is held by host churches around the world. This year’s event will include “Shine-Thru Parades” (drive-thru adaptations of “Night to Shine”), as well as a virtual celebration. Epic’s “Night to Shine” will take place from 4-7 p.m. at its church, located at 4479 Transit Road, Williamsville (behind the Eastern Hills Mall).

A press release stated, “In a time when so many people have been left feeling isolated, discouraged and worn out, it is important for Epic Church to join with the Tim Tebow Foundation in this way to honor, encourage and lift up the local community of people with special needs, ensuring they know they are valued and loved. The safety of every honored guest with special needs as a top priority and, due to COVID-19, ‘Night to Shine’ 2022 will again be a worldwide ‘Shine-Thru Parade’ and virtual celebration.”

Next Gen Director Christel Arslanian said, “We are so excited to provide this experience for the special needs community here in Buffalo and Western New York for the first time at Epic Church. It’s been amazing to see the generosity of our church and our city as we’ve been preparing for this night, knowing that this will be such a special experience given how hard these last couple years have been. I had the honor of helping one of our guests pick out a dress in our free boutique we set up, and her joy was so contagious as she twirled around in front of the mirror!”

Epic’s “Shine-Thru” event will be a red-carpet experience where honored guests arrive and have their vehicles decorated by volunteers. Then, they will enjoy hot chocolate and coffee, car karaoke and music/dancing. Next, they’ll enter the red-carpet tent, where they will be announced by an emcee, cheered on by “paparazzi,” and they’ll receive their swag bag and be crowned kings and queens – a moment that will be captured with a professional photo. There will also be a prayer team available if any of the honored guests would like to be prayed over. Each guest will also receive a gift card to pick up dinner before they head home for their online virtual experience hosted by Tim Tebow and friends.

“We can’t wait to be able to celebrate the honored guests of ‘Night to Shine’ this year knowing how important this kind of joy and connection are!” said Tebow, founder of the Tim Tebow Foundation. “Yes, we’ve had to adjust as our heart is never to put anyone at risk, and ‘Night to Shine’ will look a little different, but that does not change how God is going to use it.”

“Night to Shine” launched in 2015 with 44 host churches and 15,000 volunteers honoring more than 7,000 kings and queens of the prom. Since then, it has grown to reach over 110,000 honored guests with special needs through 700 churches and 215,000 volunteers in all 50 states as well as 34 countries.

Find more information about Epic Church Buffalo’s “Night to Shine” experience here. To register an honored guest, fill out this form. 

To see what the “Shine-Thru” experience is like, check out last year’s highlight video.

Regardless of where you are at in your faith journey, you are welcome at Epic Church. Jesus met people right where they were at and led them to something better. We want to do the same thing. Our vision is to lead people to become all-in followers of Jesus. We filter all that we do as a church through this vision. To learn more, visit www.epicchurchbuffalo.com.

The Tim Tebow Foundation exists to bring faith, hope and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need. This mission is being fulfilled every day through 16 initiatives in the fields of orphan care + prevention, special needs, children with profound medical needs, and anti-human trafficking. To learn more about how the Tim Tebow Foundation is serving the world’s most vulnerable and sharing God’s love by fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves, visit www.timtebowfoundation.org.