Dear Groovy Community,
On the magical evening of April 27, 2024, 24 HCP and Sensory Grooves opened the doors of Wonderland Performing Arts in true red-carpet fashion celebrating our sensory and neurodivergent 8th-12th graders in and around the Acadiana area.
The night began as our Sensory Grooves staff placed a numbered VIP bracelet for each participant to adorn for the evening with a matching number tag given to the caregiver. This ensured that safety was the priority at check-in and check-out. After check-in, the grooviest selfie-station could not be missed. The sparkles and decor made each capture (texted/emailed) a build up to the exciting celebration ahead. Smiles of anticipation grew as each promenaded to the event room passing our professional and fun-loving security officer (Hub Enterprises). A representative from the silent disco headset company, Dohm Collective, eagerly awaited each participant with individualized headsets and instructions to begin grooving into the night. With the beats pumping, prom night officially began!
A groovy volunteer (supporter Owner/Speech Therapist of Let’s Talk, Rhea Dugas) shared her sensory knowledge and kindness with a table filled with radical sensory items to ensure each a personalized sensory experience.
Senses were immediately captured as the smell of fresh popcorn (Lafayette Rental Company) and hot pizza (Little Caesars of Broussard) filled the air. The vision of disco balloon towers encompassed the dance floor and Sensory Groove: Silent Disco Prom projected backdrop (supporters Montz Designs and BWPR) completed the decor.
Dohm Collective’s disc jockeys and Sensory Grooves own DJ Tory Trahan kicked the beats of three different music genres. The dance floor was graced with rhythmic expression by attendees dressed in expressive formal wear grooving their personalized night away. As the smiles grew so did the need for a cold drink. The thirsts were quenched with choice of water, lemonade, sweet tea (supporter Canes #53 – The Hook, Galen Istre), and Pepsi products (Acadiana Bottling). As breaks from dancing were needed, participants visited (supporter and groovy volunteer, Mrs. Marvette Johnson) Lynn’s Captures as she festively captured the evening with a free professional photograph.
No prom would be complete without a swag bag (supporter Cane’s – The Hook, Galen Istre) personally filled each swag bag with Cane’s merchandise and gift cards. Sensory Groove’s own Kathy Ladner extended swag stickers of Live A Great Story philosophy to our grooving participants; encouraging each to become the hero of their own story.
Sensory Grooves: Silent Disco Prom was promoted through social media, community calendars, direct emails to local school administration, doctors, therapists, and flyers (Lowry’s Printing) placed at locally owned stores; new friendships were forged as sixty groovers came from as far south as Houma and the surrounding Acadiana area. This majestic evening, one that most did not ever think they would be able to participate in, was graciously funded by the backers of 24 Hour Citizen Project for 100 participants. Our first year was a true learning experience. Sensory Grooves is extremely blessed and thankful to 24 HCP and backers for the opportunity to create and host such an evening. With that said, we have learned many groovy lessons as a team. We encountered bumps and obstacles with our team not truly grasping the number of hours dedicated to such a project. And with that we lost team members which handed down responsibilities onto others; but we made it work with dedication to the members of the community we created this evening for. Budget was another obstacle as our team knew what our participants needed and deserved. Without in-kind donations from our community supporters, we would have not been able to accomplish all that we did for the grooviest evening. April 27, 2024, was a brilliantly successful evening dedicated to the sensory and neurodivergent community. Sensory Grooves: Silent Disco Prom looks forward to hosting this spectacular event annually.