A group of Sundre High School students that hosted a haunted house fundraiser on Halloween evening said it went over better than expected, attracting hundreds of people.
It was the first time for the event and Ryan Beck, leader of the group, said it might become an annual event.
“The goal was to raise money for cancer and we raised $940 for the Canadian Cancer Society,” said Beck. “It was a tremendous success. We were hoping for $500, so it's about double our goal.”
“We had a great response from the community. Everybody who went through was really happy and enjoyed it and a lot of kids said it was the best part of Halloween,” he said, noting that about 300 to 400 people went through the house.
The school's Leo Club - the leadership club at the high school as well as a branch of the local Lions Club - organized the event.
The event also featured a number of games and activities including “find the right key to open this lock”, and winners received candy. Beck said there were times when 50 people were lined up waiting to get into the house, so the games went over well.
“We set up a room and there was kind of a guided tour through the room, and there was kind of scary objects in there, and then students who were dressed up would jump out from behind corners,” he said.
The club had been brainstorming ways to host a fundraiser and the idea came up during a meeting. During the month of November, the students will be hosting other fundraisers as well. At the end of the month they will donate all of the funds to the Canadian Cancer Society, as part of supporting Movember.
“We thought we could pull it off and we did,” said Beck. “Part of our goal was to not just raise money for cancer but to do something for the community as well.”
He said there were many ways in which the event benefitted the students involved.
“The opportunity to see students play roles that they wouldn't otherwise play. The ability to put on a costume and be somebody else and to come out of your normal comfort zone and express yourself in a different way,” he explained.
“Kids just taking leadership roles and they wanted to make this happen so they stepped up to the plate and got it done,” he added.
The event was three hours long and admission was $2. As well, Tim Hortons donated coffee that was sold; Sobeys donated candy for the winners of the games and hot chocolate that was sold. Pharmachoice and Pharmasave donated candy as well as decorations.
“I really try to do very little. It's all the kids who come up with the ideas and figure out how to make it work and then make it happen.”
