Baycross Christian Family Foundation awarded a grant to Bayside Community Church to assist with the “Night to Shine” prom for people with special needs ages 16 and older.
This event will provide a Christ-centered environment for teens who live with cerebral palsy, blindness, autism, Down’s syndrome, William’ syndrome, and other special needs diagnoses. These special needs teens will be paired with a helper teen from the community who will be their buddy for the night. While the teens are celebrating an unforgettable prom night, the parents and families of the teens will be served a wonderful dinner by church volunteers at Bayside. The families will see the “special space” at Bayside, which is specially designed to be special needs friendly so that families can regularly attend church. The grant from Baycross will enable Bayside to invest in live-streaming technology that will allow the parents to watch their children at the prom, while enjoying fellowship and community in the special space at Bayside.
The special needs community is largely isolated. Bayside’s vision is to bring “A Night to Shine” to more locations and to share the love of Christ to this population. Bayside wants these teens and families to know that they are loved and valued and invited to attend church service at Bayside. This technology will be used for future events and will also help Bayside expand this outreach to families and kids with disabilities in Sarasota, Manatee and Hardee counties.