St. Paul Lutheran School to host virtual Night to Shine event

Night to Shine will return to Jackson this year, but with another "virtual" event because of COVID concerns.

St. Paul Lutheran Church and School, 223 West Adams St., will host the annual event from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday.

The event was started by the Tim Tebow Foundation eight years ago and is hosted worldwide as an "unforgettable, prom night experience, centered on God's love, for people with special needs ages 14 and older," according to the foundation's website.

Jordan Poore is a member of the Night to Shine planning committee at St. Paul Lutheran and the woman who initiated the idea to host the event at the school. She said the yearly event is important to her.

"I'm a pediatric occupational therapist, so I have a great love and passion for helping those individuals with special needs. So that is what led me to the event in the first place," Poore said. "Coming from a strong faith since I was growing up, it kind of brings my two passions to life — Jesus and those with special needs. In a world where they are not always shown to be first, not always top priority, it's just amazing that this one night, it's their night, their Night to Shine."

St. Paul Lutheran has hosted the event for the past four years, with the first two years being in-person. Because of the pandemic, the 2021 event took place as an interactive in-person and online event, as will this year's after the decision was made by the Tim Tebow Foundation in the late fall of 2021.

Registration for the St. Paul Lutheran event is open to students from the area. Individuals can solely participate from home if they choose to do so.

The event will include several activities, including a music and photo booth service through Semo Selfie & Sound, karaoke, food trucks that will deliver food to cars and a "Shine Through" parade in which people can dance from the safety of their vehicles in the school parking lot. The Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team will attend at the event as special guests.

Because of the event being held virtually in 2021 and 2022, St. Paul Lutheran has seen a decrease in registration numbers from when Night to Shine held its 2019 and 2020 in-person events.

"So, the first two years that we were in person, we had a little over 100 guests both years," Poore said. "Since the COVID and the pandemic, last year we had a little over 25 guests come to our Shine Through event and right now we have 27 guests registered."

The organization hopes to see registration numbers increase.

For more information on Night to Shine, volunteers, guests, sponsors and donors may visit the St. Paul Lutheran Church and School website, www.stpauljackson.com.