By Michael Daniels
Journal Staff Writer
COVID-19 stopped everything overnight including all the fun extracurricular activities of the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio (AOoA).
However, on Friday April 19, 2024, the AOoA’s triumphantly returned holding their Senior Prom, ‘A Red-Carpet Evening’ and nearly sold out, at the Premier Banquet Hall in Toledo, Ohio. Seniors from all over the area put were dressed for the occasion.
Justin Moor, AOoA’s President/CEO, said, “Tonight is all about bringing the generations together and giving our seniors, who are 60 and older, a night of dinner, dancing, and fun. It is also an opportunity for the seniors to mingle and socialize with their friends and other seniors, as well as, some intergenerational contact with the students volunteers from TPS (Toledo Public Schools). TPS has been a great partner in our Senior Prom for over a decade. It all started when the Prom was at Rogers High School. The Culinary Arts students prepared and served the meals for the seniors, as well as, the Horticulture students, who handmade the corsages ,for the seniors attending the Prom. As the prom became more popular it outgrew Rogers and we moved to Bowsher High School, from there, we moved to Start High Sschool, as the participation continued to grow. Now we are at the Premier Banquet Hall where we can accommodate an even larger crowd, and we have over 400 people in attendance here tonight.
Also, “AOoA would like to thank TPS for working with us all these years and making this event a special occasion for our senior community.” said Mr. Moor.
TPS Superintendent Dr. Romulus Durant added, “Tonight is a continuation of an annual thing that we love to do with our senior citizens, which is the Senior Prom. There are many here, who never got to go to the prom, when they were in high school, and this is their first prom today now. A lot of the time we forget about our senior citizens and that many do not get out of the house or get to do anything informal, so when they do get to come out to something like this, they give it their best shot. We are excited that we can provide them with this opportunity. We appreciate the AOoA and this partnership because our seniors have been the backbone of this country, for years, and this event is a small token of our appreciation. I am happy we are back, and we are going to have a great night, tonight.”
Bill Harris, who is the Chairman of the Board at AOoA also commented on the Proms return, saying, “This is a wonderful evening because loneliness and isolation are taking so many of our seniors out of this world. Events like this help to decrease that loneliness because here they get to be with and mingle with other people who love them. We were not meant to be alone and this event brings our seniors together!”
This year’s program featured former Toledo TV news anchor the charming Chrys Peterson as the MC who gave the welcome address and hosted the program. DJ Randy Main provided the music, and before a full course dinner was served senior Pearl Humphrey gave the Invocation.
Following dinner Chrys Peterson introduced the show stopping live entertainment, Toledo’s own KGB Band, who soon had the dance floor packed as they sang the greatest R&B hits of all times and gave an outstanding performance.
As the evening drew to a close there was only one thing left to do, and that was to crown a king and queen of the prom. The oldest seniors would receive the honors. At the end of the night 99 year sold Burniece Chambers was crowned the Queen and 94 year old Percy Rankins, the King of the 2024 AOoA Senior Prom.
All and all, everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed the return of the AOoA Senior Prom, ‘A Red-Carpet Evening!’ Next stop, AOoA’s ‘Spring Fling’ in May of 2024.
