Prom Plus, Prayer Breakfast and BYOC

Taste of Montrose. Holiday and spring boutiques. Open house and back to school barbecues. These fundraisers are all dedicated to one event, one memory-making night for Crescenta Valley High School seniors and their guests. That event is Prom Plus, taking place after prom this Saturday night/Sunday morning at the YMCA.

For the last 11 months, the Prom Plus committee has been working its tails off to raise the $25,000-plus for this Saturday’s all night event. But it takes more than just fundraisers. It takes financial commitment from the community.

The Kiwanis clubs partner with Prom Plus every year. The Glendale Kiwanis presented PP with a check for $1,000 in April; the Montrose-La Crescenta sent $500 our way in November. The Mary Pinola Education Endowment Fund again chose Prom Plus as a grant recipient of $1,000. The Crescenta Valley High School ASB is another key supporter that donates every year to Prom Plus. The Crescenta-Cañada YMCA charges little (if anything) to host the all night event. Then there’s the multitude of financial gifts and prizes that come in from supporters who want to ensure the safety of our kids after prom.

The funds received will go toward paying for the zip line ($2,550), the mechanical bull ($1,750), the casino ($1,250) or any number of activities that Prom Plus offers its guests. We lost a senior to an unsupervised, post prom hotel party back in 1991. None of us wants that to happen again and it is the goal of Prom Plus to provide something fun that our kids will want to attend.

Which leads me to my final point: Parents, it’s your job now to promote Prom Plus to your seniors. Whether or not they attend prom, they are welcome at Prom Plus. For those who attend prom, admittance to Prom Plus is included in the cost of the prom ticket. For seniors who only want to come to Prom Plus, they can show up at the Y door at midnight with $20. Prom Plus lasts until 5 a.m. For parents who want to be notified if their child leaves Prom Plus early, there’s a parent form that was part of the recent e-bulletin sent out by the high school that includes a notification slip. The Prom Plus website – www.promplus.org – also has copies of the form as well as information about Prom Plus.

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After Prom Plus is done, I have no doubt that the committee will raise its hands and exclaim a collective, “Hallelujah!” that the big event is over for another year. And where better to do that than at the annual CV Prayer Breakfast taking place at the Church of Latter-day Saints in La Crescenta on Tuesday morning? This is a multi-congregational event to bring together the spiritual community in support of our local youth. Doors open at 6:30 a.m. with the program starting around 7 a.m. Being at the LDS facility, it is a BYOC event (bring your own coffee) as they will not be serving java there.

Tickets are $10 and available around town.

  robin goldsworthy