’80s Prom Night is right around the corner

Sea Cliff heads back to the 1980s

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The Love Your Neighbor Project is taking Sea Cliff back to the 1980s with its upcoming ’80s Prom Night fundraiser.

The event marks the project’s third All You Need Is Love fundraiser and the first in-person event to give residents of Sea Cliff, Glen Head and Glenwood Landing the opportunity to relive the magic of prom while raising money to help the North Shore community.

The Love Your Neighbor Project is a nonprofit charity group based in Sea Cliff, which since May 2020 has worked to promote community growth and support neighbors in need. In the nearly three years since its founding, a variety of local people and organizations have helped community members struggling with everything from lack of access to medical masks to assisting people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The project has held several All You Need Is Love fundraisers, including a Zoom trivia night in 2020 and a Zoom musical performance featuring local musicians including Roger Street Friedman and Frank Ferrara in 2021. Jaime Teich, chief neighbor of the project, explained that the goal of the ’80s Prom Night event is to strengthen the bonds of the community and raise money to help others down the road.

“We just want to have fun and bring people together,” Teich said. “The evening is all about loving others, accepting everybody, and that’s what we’re all about.”

The name of the fundraisers comes from the classic Beatles song, which was the theme song for the 2020 trivia night. Teich said that early on, the song struck the right chord for the organization, helping it establish what its goals would be.

The prom night will be held on Feb. 11 at the Parish and Community Hall at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, in Sea Cliff. The Rev. Jesse Lebus, of St. Luke’s, spoke about how he and the church have been keenly interested in the work done by the project since 2020.

“Jaime’s got a real idea about drawing people together to build community, so if our space can be helpful we’re happy to do it,” Lebus said. “For us it’s a matter of community building and supporting nonprofit work in our area.”

The evening is sponsored by Branch Real Estate Group of Sea Cliff. The company worked closely with the project since the nonprofit’s founding, according to owner and broker Molly Deegan.
Deegan said Branch believes very strongly in giving back to the community, and works with five other local charity groups in addition to the project. She added that Branch also gives 2 percent of its gross annual sales commissions to charitable donations, and believes events like these can help encourage others to give back.

“We really just love (Love Your Neighbor Project’s) message of promoting social goodness, helping bring neighbors together and addressing community,” Deegan said. “We like to help out whenever they need us, and especially helping to get their overall message out.”

The evening will feature a local disc jockey, DJ McLovin, whose name was so in line with the project that Teich described it as “kismet,” spinning the greatest hits from the ‘80’s and 90’s.

There will be hors d’oeuvres provided by local vendors and unlike most proms today, this one will also serve beer and wine provided by Still Partners included in the price of the ticket.

No one will be crowned Prom King or Queen, but several attendees will have the opportunity to be made members of the “Prom Court,” which will be determined based on certain categories, such as “Best Dressed.”

Visit lynp.org for more information and to purchase a ticket until Feb. 10.