By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
COPPELL — Nearly 100 guests with special needs, dressed to the nines and beaming with joy, made their way down the red carpet for a Night to Shine celebration at St. Ann Catholic Parish in Coppell on Feb. 13. Welcomed by a whirl of high fives and homemade signs, guests were in for a night of fun and festivity — and their volunteer “buddies,” always by their sides, were ready to dance the night away with them.
For years, St. Ann parishioner Amanda Castañeda has numbered among those buddies: the volunteers who accompany individual guests throughout the prom-style celebration for people living with disabilities. The decision to join the fun as a buddy was an easy one, she shared, since she had long felt a pull to serve individuals with disabilities.
“The special needs population has always been on my heart,” said Castañeda, who also serves the community professionally, as part of the Dallas ISD private school speech therapy team. “So, I was like, ‘Oh, I want to be a part of this!’”
Night to Shine, Castañeda explained, is an annual celebration sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation and hosted at hundreds of church communities across the world, including St. Ann, to honor guests with disabilities. The night includes a host of festive activities — such as dancing, karaoke, limousine rides, and, of course, a red-carpet entrance — that are meant to create a space for guests to have fun and to be celebrated regardless of ability level, she said.
“It’s always an amazing time,” she added. “There’s just so much joy and celebration that the night brings.”
‘People first’
After serving as a Night to Shine buddy several times over the past seven years, Castañeda has embraced a new responsibility this year: buddy team lead.
As team lead, she was tasked with matching this year’s 95 guests to their 95 buddies. To make the matches, she gathered information about each guest — including their sensory needs and ability levels — and about each volunteer, before placing them together for the festivities.
Making matches is all about finding the fit that will be most comfortable for guests, Castañeda said, so that they can feel seen and supported throughout the evening.
“She has just really poured herself into getting to know our guests, getting to know our volunteers,” said Mary Mahaffey, outgoing coordinator of the special needs ministry at St. Ann, “so that in the process of pairing them with each other, it’s a really intentional and wise pairing to make sure our guests and volunteers have the best experience possible.”
As team lead, Castañeda said she encouraged her group of volunteer buddies to embrace a “people first” approach to their service.
“All of our guests are people first, then with different abilities,” she said ahead of the event. “Everyone is a gift.”
A shared mission
Castañeda and the band of volunteer buddies are just one contingent of the more than 250 volunteers that made this year’s Night to Shine event at St. Ann a success. From the moment guests arrived on campus, the parking lot team directed them to where they needed to go; a check-in team offered a warm welcome to the arriving visitors; and a glam team provided last minute hair and makeup touch-ups. Other volunteers assisted with decorations, food, cleanup, transportation, activities, and more throughout the night.
“We are truly fortunate to have the opportunity to work with hundreds of volunteers each year who give so beautifully of themselves to make this evening possible,” Mahaffey said, adding that the Night to Shine volunteers hailed from St. Ann and The Servant House, which partnered for the event, as well as from the community at large.
“People who aren’t parishioners here know that this church is here and has the mission of providing a night like this to not only parishioners but people in our community,” Castañeda said, referencing her home parish. “I think it’s a piece of that puzzle of just living out a mission that celebrates life in our diocese, regardless of ability level.”
Cutline for featured image: St. Ann Catholic Church parishioner Amanda Castañeda, a longtime volunteer “buddy” for the Night to Shine, served as the buddy team lead for this year’s event, which was hosted at the Coppell parish on Feb. 13. (AMY WHITE/The Texas Catholic)
