Halloween Community Service

October 31

Each year our team does several community service projects around Poughkeepsie. Yesterday, for the second time we helped construct and run a Halloween “haunted house” for young children in the area. The haunted house actually consisted of part of a cafeteria, where we used tarps to construct dark hallways. The players then dressed up and hid in different parts of the set-up, either jumping out at people or playing some role in the storyline. Brian Bianchetti led groups of children through the house, telling a story of a haunted school that included a crazy music teacher and a student who had been stuck in detention for anywhere from 40 to 200 years, depending on how Brian was telling it. My job was to be a zombie gym teacher. Other Vassar students were helping outside, organizing Halloween games and activities with the kids.

We got involved in this project through John Flowers, a local resident who conducts a wide variety of community service projects around Poughkeepsie. Every year around Christmas time we work with Mr. Flowers to bring gifts to all the area nursing homes. Our coach has always stressed to us the importance of giving back to the community, and with John Flowers’ organization there are always projects that we can help out with.