The Johns Hopkins Children's Center hosted its first annual homecoming dance for teenage patients on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015. Planned by the hospital's Teen and Children's Council, the Department of Child Life and the Office of Development, the event created a homecoming experience for former and current adolescent patients with medical conditions or complications that have kept them from attending the school dances in their own communities.
More than 30 patients and 70 guests attended the chaperoned party, held in the hospital’s Great Room, from 7-10 p.m. The dance was all about giving back moments in patients’ lives, moments missed due to illness or the isolation it can create.
A deejay, laser light show, photo booth, volunteer caricaturist and fun food kept things going. Additional donations of hair and makeup services and even homecoming apparel helped create a beautiful evening for kids and their friends.
“We were glad to help with this,” says TACC member Brenna Hohl, among those who helped secure donations and arrange the evening. “We were able to help provide a regular teenage experience that they couldn’t have had otherwise.”
The dance was made possible in large part by a donation from the Courtney Quinn Fund. Girl Scout Troop 887 from Crofton, Md., donated the decorations.
Many more donors of services and time helped make this a spectacular event for our kids. They included The Leo Club, Bella Bridesmaids, DJ5starr Enterprise, Image Engineering, photographer Jill Fannon, caricaturist Jacob Sammy, Panda Express Panda Cares Program, Atwater’s Café of Baltimore, Vinny’s Café, hair stylist Emily Seidenzahl, Metallic Rose Salon, Joy Juice Salon, hair/make-up stylists Theresa O'Byrne Nilsen and Tammy Becraft and Stephanie Brown, Kim Reyes Makeup, LLC, and Donald Bied, Ray Fabian and Neil Marshall who provided security services.
Family and friends established The Courtney Quinn Fund at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center several years ago, in memory of Courtney Quinn, diagnosed at the age of 14 with a rare brain cancer. The fund benefits the hospital’s Department of Child Life and its particular care of and services for adolescents, like Courtney. Proceeds from the fund’s Rock N Roll Relay Swim Meet at the Crofton Country Club last summer were contributed to the hospital’s homecoming event.
Above: Courtney Quinn's parents Tom and Nicole and sister, Carly, and brother, Cooper, walked the red carpet that night.