This year the Monster Mash -- Henkle Middle School PTO's annual fundraiser -- with it's famous Haunted Hallway will be held on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 5 to 8 pm at Henkle Middle School.
Henkle's PTO will be once again providing a fun event for the whole community and a safe place for families with children to celebrate Halloween while helping raise money for the school.
As usual there will be a carnival for the younger children and everyone is encouraged to come in costume for a costume show with prizes for all ages. There will be music and dancing and food and a competition to see who can be the fastest to eat an apple on a string without using their hands. And of course there will be the monsters of the Haunted Hallway.
For the last three years Rich Lyons Henkle's seventh grade science teacher has taken on the design and production of the Haunted Hallway and under his direction it has grown into the biggest and scariest in the area.
Lyons comes to the job with a lot of experience. For seven years before moving to White Salmon, he directed a much larger Haunted Hallway in Birmingham, Ala. There the Hallway was open for a month instead of just for one night and in that month they earned up to a quarter of a million dollars for a variety of children's charities. Since Lyons has been improving our haunted hallway here, attendance at the Monster Mash has grown spectacularly.
"I couldn't do it without the help of Brad Roberts and Derek Krentz" said Mr. Lyons, referring to his two main parent-assistants. Every year, Lyons also assembles a team of 20 to 30 Columbia High School students, who also act as monsters and help with the set-up and takedown.
The High School gives Community Service credit for the hours the students put in on this project and many of the workers are "regulars" who come back year after year.
"It's a lot of fun," said Lyons, "but the real reason we do this is for the school." There were more than 600 individual trips through the Hallway last year in the three hours it was open, so being a monster is a lot of hard work too.
Last year almost 700 people came to the Monster Mash from all over the Gorge, and with donations the PTO raised over $3,000. The money was used for a fifth and sixth grade science field trip and prizes for reaching reading goals, to bring in the Missoula children's theatre for a week and to help support the seventh and eighth grade drama program at Henkle.
The PTO also contributed to the HUGS fair and the Springfest Art Show and a large chunk went to purchasing a document camera to help the teachers at Henkle with their work.
This year, the fifth and sixth grade students will be going on their bi-annual field trip to Maryhill Museum where they spend a whole day immersed in art history and art education, a trip made possible by support from the PTO. The PTO also donates money to provide a bus ride home for the children who wish to attend Project Open Door (POD), Henkle's after school program.
According to Rick George, principal, this is one of the most important areas in need of support.
"Many children could not attend POD unless we can guarantee them a ride home afterwards. It is during the after school hours that our community's youth is most at-risk. These hours, often when parents are still working, feature the highest rates of juvenile dysfunctional behaviors such as sexual activity, criminal acts, and substance abuse. With POD, our community's children have a much healthier after school option, staffed by caring and qualified adults. In addition, these students receive the help they need to succeed in school. POD provides tutoring in reading and mathematics and in completing homework in all areas."
Henkle's PTO is hoping for an even larger turnout at the Monster Mash this year as word of the event spreads. Everyone working on this event donates their time and services -- this year the organizers of the food service are requesting a small donation from all parents of middle school students so that every penny taken in can be ploughed back into the school.
The Monster Mash is a good thing for the community both as a fun, safe (if scary) event and because it provides extra funding for the children at Henkle Middle school.
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