More reasons to love NFL star Tim Tebow.
On February 11 at the campus of My Life Speaks in Haiti, the NFL star brought smiles to people with special needs by going to Prom with them. The goal is to give teens with special needs their own prom, complete with red carpets, paparazzi, and dancing.
The prom was part of Night to Shine initiative, a worldwide simultaneous prom event for people with special needs in association with Tim Tebow Foundation.
“My inspiration was when I was 15 years old and I was at a school in a remote village in the Philippines. There was a boy who was shunned out of the event because his feet were on backwards,” Tebow told ABC’s Good Morning America. “What we want to do is fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves. That’s what it’s all about.”
Night to Shine has grown 450% since the inaugural event in 2015. Valentines weekend there were 200 events in 48 states and 7 countries: the U.S., Uganda, Haiti, New Zealand, Ecuador, Kenya and the Philippines all came together with 70,000 volunteers to celebrate 32,000 kings and queens of the prom.
While most of the proms took place on February 12, the one in Haiti was scheduled for the 11th at the campus of My Life Speaks, an American-run organization that provides orphan care.
According to People, Tim could hardly contain his excitement to attend the prom night in Haiti: “I’ve really been looking forward to Valentine’s Day weekend. This is going to be awesome.”
“It’s just so important to me,” Tebow, 28, says. “I’ve always had a burden for people who can’t fight for themselves. The disabled are often bullied and told in a million ways that they’re not important. Well, they are important, and this is a night for them to realize that they are important – and for the community to actually see them and celebrate them.
“There are people who look at the disabled as being cursed,” Tebow says. “But they’re now watching them being celebrated. I hope that can change the narrative, not just in Haiti, but everywhere.”
Tim admit that many of the Haitian participants did not know about him or his football career but he didn’t care.
“This is their night, not mine,” he says. “It should be about celebrating them.”
I couldn’t agree with you more, what a wonderful and self-serving way to spend a holiday dedicated to love.
Pictures courtesy of Sarah Beth Turner at Refinery29
Pictures courtesy of Sarah Beth Turner at Refinery29
#NightToShine pic.twitter.com/u97aT9JHxn
— Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) February 12, 2016
