THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511030180
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Eric Feber
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Don't try to tell Jeanette Muncie that there's no more community spirit these days.
She knows that's not true, at least not in her Forest Lakes neighborhood.
Muncie's 8-year-old son, Kyle, a third-grader at Great Bridge Intermediate School, has diabetes. He has learned to live with the disease, she said, but Halloween is an especially difficult time for him.
It's a holiday that should be part of any kid's life, she said. But the candy usually associated with trick or treating is the very thing Kyle must avoid.
At first Muncie came up with a plan where Kyle would go out trick-or-treating, bring home his sugar-filled booty and sell it to mom. He could then use the money to purchase his own safe treats.
Kyle wanted no part of that. It wouldn't be the same. Part of the fun is going out and amassing your own treats, he reasoned.
She then decided to appeal directly to her neighbors, the households Kyle would be visiting on Halloween night.
Muncie typed up about 15-20 fliers explaining Kyle's diabetic condition and asked if an alternative could be found for him when he stops at each home.
Since he was going as Sonic the Hedgehog, a popular cartoon and video game character, Muncie asked if the neighborhood could please offer some special ``hedgehog food'' for Kyle.
The fliers were sent out before Oct. 31, and the folks who live along Birch Forest Court and Walnut Forest Court came through in a big way.
``The neighborhood was just thrilled to help,'' Muncie said. ``They all wanted to make Halloween special for him.''
They all knew that if Sonic the Hedgehog came up to their door, they would offer him a special treat.
``This made Kyle feel special,'' Muncie said. ``This time he wasn't the odd man out. The neighbors made it fun for him.''
And everything he received were, indeed, special treats. In fact, Kyle's friends were all thrilled for him. One kid was even a bit envious.
``I heard one child even say, `Boy! I wish I had diabetes,' '' Muncie said. ``I told him that wasn't something he should wish for in spite of Kyle's special fun.''
But what kid wouldn't be impressed with Kyle's special ``hedgehog food'' and treats?
``Imagine a kid coming home with a pillow case full of treats?'' Muncie mused. ``It was just like Christmas all over again.''
The treats included Ritz animal crackers, peanut butter crackers, pencils, stickers, erasers, money, sugarless gum and Gummi Bears, McDonald's restaurant gift certificates, small bags of chips and pretzels, fruits and several kinds of nuts.
``This tells me that not all people are bad,'' Muncie said. ``I just want to thank all of the Forest Lakes people. We just love 'em.'' Haunting brings help
Amy Stroud of Portlock said her husband Scott is like a big kid during the Halloween season.
So to indulge his frightening fun, the couple decided to enlist the help of family, friends, colleagues and church members to create a haunted yard for Oct. 31.
The yard, set up at the corner of Rodgers and Bassett streets, attracted more than 400 people, who delighted in its many frightful scenes.
To make it a worthwhile event, the Strouds decided to charge admission: some kind of dried or canned food. The successful scary site earned over 100 canned and dried food items to be used to help feed needy folks during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
``The food items will be donated to to our church, Raleigh Heights Baptist Church,'' Amy Stroud said. ``The deacons of the church run a food pantry, and each holiday season they assemble food baskets for less fortunate people in the community.''
Stroud said she and her husband got many of the congregation's teens involved in the project since they were too old to trick-or-treat.
With about 30 volunteers working, it took about two weeks to prepare all of the horror sites.
The Strouds' haunted yard included several caskets with un-dead occupants, a nasty troll under a bridge, a beheading scene, a maniacal mummy, a demonic Dracula, the big bad wolf terrorizing Grandma, a witches' feast and many others. Each scene was separated by black plastic sheets strung up by Scott Stroud.
``It was amazing how it all came to life,'' Amy Stroud said. ``Everybody enjoyed it and thought it was really special. Some people came out of the yard screaming and others said they wanted to walk through it again. We'll do it again next year. It was fun and very worthwhile.'' ILLUSTRATION: This week's scene is an import from out of town. For decades,
these antique Gulf pumps kept gas tanks full in Belhaven, N.C. I
purchased the pair last week for display at the second annual
Chesapeake Hot Rod Jamoree on April 13, 1996. Jack Peed of Jack's
Body Shop is refinishing them. For information on the show at
Chesapeake City Park, call me at 543-5373.
by CNB