Have Prom, Will Travel
On the final afternoon of the 2016 conference while the families were making preparations in anticipation for the long-anticipated HoPE Prom, Families for HoPE received word of a protest planned for 5pm in the vicinity of Dealey Plaza near where the Prom would be held that evening at the Dallas World Aquarium. With rumored threats and the potential for violence, our Families for HoPE leaders made the decision to move our HoPE Prom to a safer location.
This was all made possible by Kristy Rempel (Liam’s mom) who lives in the Dallas area and works on the event planning team at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. Along with Kelly Irvin (Ryker’s mom), Kristy served as co-chairwoman of the Prom committee, and these two HPE moms orchestrated the last-minute transition of the food and catering team, the DJ and the photographer who had all begun on-site preparations at the aquarium. The conference committee members communicated with each family, and within the hour nearly 400 Prom guests were making their way to the new Prom location!
When the HPE families arrived at Toyota Stadium, they didn’t mind that there were no spectacular aquarium exhibits or fancy centerpieces on their tables; instead, everyone was excited and jubilant just to be there for that special moment of celebration and hope! This is the definition of the journey of HPE——life may not be the perfection that we once dreamt it to be, but we can find hope and celebrate wherever the journey takes us.
You can help make the 2018 Family Conference on Holoprosencephaly a reality for HPE families with a donation to Families for HoPE.
The board and Kristy NAILED it… Keep in mind this was 1 week after the shootings in Dallas, there was a bit of unrest in the area and the board chose safety over risk, which I agree with 100%. Anyone who is upset that they missed the aquarium doesn’t get the point – we do conferences for families to meet each other and learn, laugh and cry together. It was an incredible audible called 2 hours before the start of the event that went flawlessly.
Well, I appreciate all the last-minute work, but my daughter was definitely disappointed in missing the aquarium. It was to be the highlight of the trip for her.