Colorado church throws "prom" for adults with disabilities

From The Boulder Camera. In the picture, Lafayette Senior Center volunteer Dana Doner, center right, sews a brooch onto Lora Kreutzer s dress as volunteer Lanae Jenneiahn, right, watches during preparations for the Shine event

For a Halloween dance one year, Nicole Ortiz dressed up as Fiona -- the green-skinned ogre wife of the cartoon character Shrek.

That was the closest the 32-year-old woman has gotten to feeling like a princess -- until now.

"She is so excited," caregiver Polly Mendoza, 32, said about Ortiz, who was born without any disabilities but developed a severe form of mental retardation when she got a high fever at age 2.

Ortiz is among about 400 people with varying disabilities who will be the guests of honor for a free formal ball at a Lafayette church on Feb. 25 and 26. "Shine" -- as the event is called -- is a fancy evening of dinner and dancing for people who rarely get invited to such events.

People from across the Denver metro area who have developmental, physical or mental disabilities -- along with their caregivers -- have RSVP'd to attend the dances at Flatirons Community Church.

Members of the congregation, which can be as big as 11,000 people on any given weekend, donated about 2,500 dresses and 300 suits and tuxedos for the event. The guests of honor were invited earlier this month to come browse the selection and try on formal gowns and tuxedos.

For three days, volunteer seamstresses lined up behind sewing machines to make alterations on the spot, while high school volunteers ran back and forth between dress racks and fitting rooms to accommodate picky "shoppers" with special demands.

One woman wanted sequins. Another loved bows and said her favorite color is purple. One lady needed a shawl. No demands were too great, and beaming men and women of all ages left the building with perfectly fitting gowns that they can keep forever.

When the dapper honorees arrive at the church on either Thursday or Friday of next week, college students will line the road cheering them as they turn into the parking lot. As they walk up to the dance, high-schoolers will crowd a red carpet and snap photos of the glammed-up guests.

"I don't know that she's ever been to a formal dance," Mendoza said while watching Ortiz spin in a three-way mirror at one of the fittings earlier this month.

"Show us your best dance move," one of the wardrobe volunteers said to Ortiz, who had tried on a purple-sequined sleeveless dress.

Ortiz gladly twirled on one foot and then covered her huge grin with both hands.

"Beautiful," onlookers said.

The concept for Shine grew out of a Bible verse from the book of Luke.

"When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors," Luke chapter 14 reads. "If you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind."

Scott Nickell, a teaching pastor at Flatirons, said he asked the church-goers, "What if we demonstrated that for our community?"

And hundreds of people stepped up, he said. So many people distributed invitations and volunteered to help that the church had to add a second night of dancing. The church, which will be transformed into an elegant ballroom, has room for 200 guests and their caregivers on each night, and upwards of 600 people have volunteered to help at each event.

"It's going to be packed," Nickell said.

This is the first year Flatirons is holding the dance, and Nickell said they plan to make it an annual event. But a church in Kentucky -- where both of Flatirons' lead pastors came from -- has held 10 "Jesus proms."

Brewster McLeod, a minister at Southland Christian Church in Kentucky, said the idea grew out of a desire to "go outside the walls of the church building" and value people on the margins of society. It began, he said, with members of his church's youth ministry visiting homes for the mentally and physically disabled.

They would bring balloons, cookies and a keg of Kool-Aid.

"We were wanting to give them a party," McLeod said.

In the 1990s, he said, a lot of disabled people weren't allowed in public schools, and he came up with the idea for a "Jesus prom" when he saw a greeting card with a picture of Jesus wearing a party hat.

"It simply said, 'Happy Birthday to me,' and I stole that idea," McLeod said.

The first prom in 2000 drew about 250 people. At the most recent event, more than 1,500 prom-goers came and about 1,500 church members volunteered to help.

"We want them to feel that they have value for their life," McLeod said. "The Lord values them, and we value them."

Similar events have popped up in churches across the country since the Kentucky prom began, and McLeod said he's planning to fly out to Colorado for Flatiron's event and bring with him two special-needs friends. One of the men has been to every "Jesus prom" in Kentucky, and the other has never been on a plane before.

They're planning to arrive Thursday afternoon.

"So my guys will get to go to the prom twice," McLeod said, "and we'll sneak in, if they don't let us."


'I've never done anything as formal as this'

Shawna Faltermeier, 21, of Lakewood, said she has lots of friends planning to come to the Flatirons event -- including her boyfriend Erik Krickbaum, 23, of Arvada.

"It's my birthday party too," Faltermeier said, moments after selecting a fuchsia dress that needed some hemming. "I've never done anything as formal as this. This is really special."

As Sheng Wheeler, 17, of Louisville, rocked back and forth eagerly at a fitting earlier this month, his mother beamed with excitement.

"This is the first time he's gotten a nice coat," Mai Wheeler said. "He loves to dance, so he'll have a blast."

The day of the dance, Candy Shrout, 44, of Boulder, has big plans and no time for work. She's taking the day off to get her hair and makeup done.

"You have my dress?" Shrout asked her caretaker Sally Bell earlier this week, eager to show it off.

Bell said Shrout tried on two to three outfits before finding the perfect one -- a long blue dress with silver beading.

"When she looked in the mirror, it was transforming," Bell said. "It was amazing -- the glow on her face."

Although this event is just one night, Bell said, she believes it will build Shrout's self-esteem in a long-lasting and significant way.

"Perhaps she will see herself doing things that she wouldn't have done before," Bell said.