The Glendale Kiwanis Club recently donated $345 to No Worries Now, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that holds proms for teens with life-threatening illnesses. The funds will pay for 15 teens – including several from Glendale – to attend the organization’s sixth annual prom, which will be held June 6 at Sony Studios for 500 ill teens and their guests.

“For many attendees, the No Worries Now Prom is the one night a year they can just be kids,” said Marta Belcher, No Worries Now’s executive director and a local resident. “Prom is a milestone that many of them would otherwise not be able to experience – either because they will not live long enough or because of rigorous treatment schedules. Getting out of hospital gowns and into ball gowns means the world to our attendees. We provide a space where they can relax with others who can sympathize with their experience, and just dance for one night.”

The event, themed “The Amazing Spiderman,” is 100% free for all participants. The Now Prom’s highlights include dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck, a magician, a caricature artist, a photo booth, celebrity shout-out videos, and red carpet treatment for all attendees.

Sponsors of No Worries Now also provide patients with free formalwear and tailoring, makeup and hairstyling prior to the event, and corsages and boutonnieres upon arrival. This year, the nonprofit has expanded to hold Now Proms in five cities – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Detroit and Washington, D.C. – throughout the month of June.

In addition, La Cañada Flintridge’s Panda Express will donate 25% of its profits on Friday, June 1 to No Worries Now. The fundraising event will take place during Panda Express’s normal business hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Representatives of No Worries Now will sell shirts onsite throughout the day for $23 – priced so that each shirt pays for one teen’s ticket to prom. Panda Express is located at 700 Foothill Blvd. at the corner of Oakwood Avenue in LCF.

For more information about No Worries Now, email marta@noworriesnow.org or visit www.noworriesnow.org.