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VIDALIA, La. – It’s time to let the Miss-Lou’s Brightest Stars shine.

Registration and sponsorship opportunities are open now for the 2025 Brightest Stars Ball for special needs individuals ages 16 and up. The event takes place on Feb. 20 and the last day for registration and sponsorship is Feb. 13.

Ronnie Calhoun, who leads the non-profit behind the ball, said more than 75 stars attended the 2024 ball. “And we’re looking for more this year,” he said.

Calhoun helped launch the ball in 2018. He had returned to the Miss-Lou in 2016 and was teaching at Vidalia Junior High when he began to gravitate towards the special needs classrooms and students.

In 2018, he and his wife volunteered with a Tim Tebow “Night to Shine” in Los Angeles, “and the whole flight home I was thinking ‘how can we do this.’”

The how became the Brightest Stars Foundation and Ball.

“I didn’t want it to be about a particular church, didn’t want it to be black or white, Catholic or Baptist,” Calhoun said. Instead, the community-based foundation is open to all special needs individuals in the Miss-Lou and surrounding areas.

In 2019, Calhoun said 28 guests participated. As interest and awareness have grown, so has participation and programs.

“From 2016 to now we’ve come light years in terms of awareness of the special needs population and what we need to do for it,” Calhoun said.

“We take it for granted when we got to these balls or parties or social events,” Calhoun said. “A lot of these kids are just a home without these opportunities. They look forward to this ball all year long.”

Now, sponsorships to the foundation are helping create additional opportunities for social interaction for the special needs population in the Miss-Lou, from Halloween hayrides to Christmas socials. “We hope to eventually have something every month for them,” he said.

Sponsorship levels include Silver at $100, Gold at $250; and Platinum at $500. Sponsorship information is available on the Brightest Stars Facebook page or by emailing brighteststarsball@gmail.com.

Participant registration forms are also available on the Facebook page.

“We really want to stress to people that your sponsorship is making this ball happen as well as other activities throughout the year,” Calhoun said, adding that the foundation seeks to create a community model for how to serve special needs individuals.

“In the next five to 10 years I hope we start setting the example for what needs to be done” to include this population in our community, Calhoun said. “I want people to look at our community and say, ‘Wow, that’s how it should be done.’”