Prom night: Young Life club rolls out the red carpet for friends

Published 7:30 pm Sunday, June 7, 2015

EVERETT — Inside the First Baptist Church on Wetmore Avenue there was a line for the hair stylists and the makeup station was buzzing with talk about the night ahead.

A few guys who’d arrived early gravitated toward each other. They loosened ties and tugged at jacket sleeves.

Dates handed out corsages and proud parents took photographs. A young woman twirled, sending her dress swirling around her. There were hugs and smiles. A cheer went up as the first classic car pulled up to the curb outside the church. Fancy dresses and spiffy suits called for riding in style to the dance.

“We live in a world of short busses and life-skills classes. This, this makes you feel normal,” Nicole Morrison said Saturday.

Morrison watched her daughter Jalen, 16, climb into the back of deep-red convertible with a group of friends. The Edmonds-Woodway High School junior met the other girls through Snohomish County Young Life Capernaum, a faith-based club for people with special needs.

Saturday the club’s leaders threw a prom for their friends. The night was meant to celebrate each other, not just their differences but also those things that unite them, club leader Aimee Dunbar said.

“We’re going to dance and we’re going to eat,” 22-year-old Jake Byron said.

Byron, of Granite Falls, wore a red rose boutonniere on his gray shirt with black bow tie. He and his date walked the red carpet outside the Xfinity arena as other teens and parents clapped for them. Classic cars lined Hewitt Avenue as about 60 young people were chauffeured to the arena.

Byron helped his date find her seat at their table in the ballroom decorated in gold and silver.

He’s been talking about the dance for weeks, his mom Tammy Byron said.

“Everyone in the family knew Jake was going to prom,” she said.

Her son has Prader-Willi syndrome, which leaves him with constant cravings for food. He also was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 12. It is critical that he stay active. He works a couple hours a day at the physical therapy office in Granite Falls, where he’d been a patient since he was 10. He hands out ice packs and folds laundry.

The Capernaum club also helps him thrive, his mom said.

There are trips to the beach and picnics. They come together to worship and enjoy the fun of superhero night or dancing. “Jake the Great” wowed the crowd with his magic tricks at the club’s talent show in March.

“I think being a part of the group gives him some peace that there is a purpose God created for him,” Tammy Byron said. “They are special and not just someone with special needs.”

Morrison and her daughter met Dunbar at New Life Church in Everett. Dunbar is the Sunday school leader for kids with special needs.

The Capernaum club was started about three years ago. It’s grown so much that there are now two groups, one that meets in Lake Stevens and a second that meets in the Lynnwood area.

“One of my biggest fears was Jalen would not have friends. It quelled all my fears. Here’s this whole program and she’s made so many friends,” Morrison said.

The club has helped boost his daughter’s self-esteem, Shawn Hatleberg said. High school wasn’t an easy time for her. She doesn’t have to worry about what others think. It is a safe place for her to be herself, the Everett dad said.

“She does count in the world. She can give to the community,” he said.

Emily Locke, 25, likes to be a part of Capernaum “to learn more about God and to help kids learn about God.” She also likes going to the Young Life camps.

Jake Byron said he loves all the leaders.

“They take care of us,” he said.

Dinner started with a short prayer. The young man gave thanks for a fun dance. There were more smiles and laughter as leaders Sara Humberstone and Jamie Johns read “shout outs” that acknowledged some of the joy the friends bring each other.

Soon music filled the room.

“Ten years ago I never thought my daughter would be going to prom and here we are,” Morrison said. “She’s surrounded by friends.”

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley