By Charly SHELTON and Mary O’KEEFE

The first annual Prom Plus bingo game will be held on April 22 at the American Legion Hall Post 288. Proceeds from the game will benefit the after-prom event for CVHS seniors and their guests.

There will be 10 bingo games plus three “big chip” games, each paying out at least $100. In addition, there will be food and beverages for purchase and opportunity drawings for a variety of donated items. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door on a first come, first served basis.

Prom Plus began over 20 years ago after the tragic murder of Crescenta Valley High School student Berlyn Cosman. She was a popular student who had a bright future but all that changed while she slept at a hotel in Anaheim during an unsupervised post-prom party.

It was prom night in June 1991. Berlyn decided to go to the “sleep room” while others continued to party, according to reports at the time. A 19-year-old man, who most of the students at the party knew, entered the room with a gun and shot Berlyn while she slept, killing her. He later admitted to being drunk at the time of the party.

A group of community members and parents formed Prom Plus after the murder. Their intent was simple – give CVHS seniors and their guests a safe place to go after prom. The first few Prom Plus events were held at the Clark Magnet High School campus, which was vacant at the time, but soon moved to the Crescenta Cañada YMCA.

From midnight to 5 a.m., CVHS Prom Plus attendees can ride a mechanical bull, go zipping down a zip line, try their luck at a full casino and play numerous other games. At the end of the event, they all make their way to the prize room where they participate in an opportunity drawing for all things that can help a young student going off to college.

In the past seven years Prom Plus has grown with the creation of Prom Plus Club at CVHS. The students at PPC can be found volunteering at almost every community event as well as alongside adults at the PP event itself.

The members of PP raise money throughout the year to host this nearly $20,000 party for CVHS and in recent years PP has awarded scholarships to those PPC members who have shown strong community service character.

Bingo is one of the fund-raisers that helps PP pay for the event and the scholarships. It will be held on April 22 at
the American Legion Hall, 4011 La Crescenta Ave.

Earlier in the day, the community is invited to the annual prayer breakfast offering fellowship, community interaction, goodwill and a selection of fruits, bagels, pastries and yogurts. The Crescenta Valley Town Council is gearing up to hold its sixth annual breakfast event in the hope that adults can come together to make the lives of local children better.

The prayer breakfast started in 2012, prompted by the suicide of local high school sophomore Drew Ferraro. The response from the community was an outpouring of love and compassion for the struggle of being a kid in today’s world of technology and high-pressure academics.

“We feel very sorry that things like this happen in our community. Drew has always been in our hearts and minds and, no matter what, he’s our son. He left a very big impact in our community in the way of trying to bring the kids’ concerns to the community and raise awareness of what our kids go through,” said Harry Leon, Crescenta Valley Town Council member. “So we [decided to bring] the community together with clergy to start sharing ideas that help our youth, and we try to bring different cultures together to help in any way we can. Especially in La Crescenta, we’ve been [received well]; the people in La Crescenta are tremendously open-hearted.”

Each year, organizers invite a guest speaker to give the keynote address. This year’s speaker is Christie Frandsen, a writer, seminary teacher and mother, who will deliver her lecture, “And Great Shall Be The Peace of Your Children: Creating a Life of Peace in a Tumultuous World.”

Leon wanted to thank the various organizations for their donations and hard work, including Super King, which supplies all of the food for the breakfast; Prom Plus Club, the student volunteers who help set up, tear down and donate their time to events like this throughout community; the Crescenta Valley High School’s Charismatics and performers from Hiza Yoo’s Korean Dance Institute, who will perform at the event; the CVTC Committee that organizes the event each year; Pastor Bill Flanders and his congregation at Community Life Church, First Baptist where the event will be held; and all the local churches who have given support in any form. As this is a prayer breakfast to be held at a church, it is assumed to be Christian prayer but Leon says that all are welcomed and invited.

“We want to bring them together to pray and help kids,” Leon said. “We reach out [to everyone] because this is not a Christian thing – this is an all of us thing.”

The event will be held on Saturday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Community Life Church, First Baptist, 4441 La Crescenta Ave. in La Crescenta. Tickets are $10 each for adults and students are free. Proceeds from the ticket sales will go to local charities like Prom Plus, as well as to the CVTC Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships to local outstanding students.

For more information, visit theCVcouncil.com.

  Charly Shelton, Mary Okeefe