INWOOD — Eileen Kornfeld, 62, donned her patterned blue blazer and crisp white shoes for her first prom Monday where she and dozens of senior citizens in their finest clothes and corsages boogied down to oldies like "One Love," "The Electric Slide," and "Apache (Jump On It)."
Kornfeld had to sit out her high school prom nearly 40 years ago, like many of the other attendees, because she was engaged to be married at the time.
“You start your life off in one direction, and then life happens and you end up somewhere else, so whoever thought that I would get the opportunity to be at prom?” Kornfeld said.
“It’s kind of funny and exciting at the same time,” she added.
The event, which took place in The Allen Hospital at 5141 Broadway, near 220th Street, gave seniors between the ages of 60 to 90 the opportunity to walk a red carpet, pose before a fancy hospital backdrop and dance with friends.
For Anna and Larry Sabella, 73 and 81, of Riverdale, the prom was a rare opportunity to do something together for the first time in their 47 years of marriage, they said.
Neither of them got to attend their own high school prom because they didn't have enough money, they said. And Monday was even more special because they got to celebrate alongside their daughter, Tara.
“It just feels very exciting,” Sabella said. “I wish everyone can experience something like this, before we all go home. I don’t think there’s any words to describe it. It’s just a blessing.”
Now in its second year, the free event, organized by Allen Hospital's HealthOutreach program for seniors, was chaperoned by 20 local students from John F. Kennedy High School in Spuyten Duyvil and George Washington Heights High School campus in Fort George.
Health Outreach provides seniors in the Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and Riverdale areas with approximately 15 workshops in Zumba, yoga, belly dancing, knitting and ballroom dancing, said Kevin Curtin, the hospital's vice president of operations. The program also hosted a talent show for seniors in May.
