Thanks to volunteers for Special Needs Prom

Deborah Martin Norcross, Princeton Special Sports
To the editor:
   I am writing to thank everyone who made our fourth Princeton Special Needs Prom such a success.
   Since 2008, Princeton Special Sports and the Princeton Recreation Department have been co-sponsoring monthly dances for the teenaged and young adult members of our special needs community. The dances, and especially our prom, are tremendous fun. Through these dances, and other events PSS and the PRD have co-sponsored, our neighbors with special needs have had multiple opportunities to socialize with existing friends, and make new ones, in a comfortable environment.
   We could not do it without some very special people. We are fortunate that the list is long.
   Thank you to Holland Paley for giving our young women the gift of professional makeup sessions and to Alan Paley for taking video of both pre-prom activities and the prom itself. Thank you also to Jamie Escarpeta, our talented photographer who has donated his time at every one of our proms. And special thanks to Ted Ernst from the Recreation Department, whose support has made the dances and our other events possible.
   Thank you also to our adult volunteers who helped set up for, run, and clean up after the prom: Katerina Bubnovsky, Lindsay Crowell, Ann Diver, Jonathan Fishkin, Radha Iyer, Sethu Iyer, Hana Oretsky, Cathy Robertson, Trudy Sugiura, and Yasuo Sugiura.
   We are especially grateful for our student volunteers. They energize our participants in ways no adult can match: Emma Crain, Michael Dunlap, Theresa Gebert, Catherine Gonzalez, Kahil Griffin, Holly Greaver, Samantha Itkoff, Tyron Johnson, Kate Kerr, Hanna Kostenbader, Bridgette McGorty, Gabriel McGregor, Kunal Nishcal, Fallon Ohlson, Sammi Paley, Katherine Powell, Sierra Rosario, Caroline Smith, Adam Straus-Goldfarb, Carl Torsilieri and Sydney Watts.
   Thank you to Michelle Davis, Nancy Long and Tony Richichi from the Princeton Regional Schools, and to Tom Zucowski of the Joint Recreation Board, for coming. It meant a lot to our community.
   And finally, thank you to my fellow trustees, the most dedicated group of volunteers you’ll ever meet: Carmine Conti, Ann Diver, Hana Oretsky, John Pecora, John Rutledge and Barb Young.
   Come watch your special needs neighbors play baseball at Community Park on Sundays from 1 to 2:30, and join us at the first annual Special Needs Skate Camp at Hilltop Park on July 9.
Deborah Martin Norcross
Princeton Special Sports