Staff photo / Hailey Rogenski Ken Hopkins, a volunteer at Night to Shine at Wildare Church, shines the shoes of James Logan, 38. The seventh annual event is a prom for special needs teens and adults 14 and older.

CHAMPION — Wildare Church hosted its seventh annual Night to Shine on Friday.

Night to Shine is part of the Tim Tebow Foundation, according to Trish Shafer, the event coordinator.

The Tim Tebow foundation’s mission is to “bring faith, hope and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need,” according to its website.

Shafer said the church hosts Night to Shine the Friday before Valentine’s Day every year.

“It’s a special needs prom that is all about showing them how amazing they are and just a night to totally celebrate them,” she said.

She said the event featured a makeup station, shoe shining, corsages, a red carpet photo booth and a red carpet welcome.

“We also have karaoke, dancing, singing and a catered dinner as well,” Shafer said.

She said the turnout this year was 90 guests. She said there were also 150 volunteers.

“The people who come absolutely love it,” Shafer said. “They want to come back year after year. As soon as we finish an event they’re asking when the next event will be here. So we absolutely love it and they absolutely love it and each year it seems to grow more and more.”

Shafer said the event is for ages 14 and above.

“We have a lot of middle-aged guests, some younger ones, but it’s a wide variety of guests,” she said.

She said Night to Shine is her favorite night of the year.

“It takes almost a full year to plan it with everything we have and recruiting volunteers to getting guests to lining up everything from the DJ to the limo, to the food, to the photo booth,” Shafer said. “It’s absolutely amazing watching it all come together. It’s what makes it worth it all.”

Shafer said at the end of the event, everyone there gets crowned king and queen.

“It’s a really special, emotional part of the night,” she said. “They all do big crowns and tiaras and we do a special ceremony and it’s very sweet and emotional and it just helps reiterate that we love them and how amazing (they are).”

Pastor Steve Anderson, who just started working at Wildare, said he is excited to help at Night to Shine for the first time.

“I think it’s absolutely wonderful,” he said. “It speaks volumes about what a wonderful outreach this church (has). I feel very fortunate and blessed.”