by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
For the past two years, Halloween Doors & More has been sold out and event facilitators are anticipating nothing less this year.
Halloween Doors & More, a fundraising event for Community PedsCare, a program of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, is Oct. 13 from 3-8 p.m. at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall.
Over the last two years, the Community Hospice Foundation has raised over $800,000 for PedsCare.
“That is about $400,000 per year and we are still trying to keep it at that because it is such an incredible amount already,” said Amy Davis, donor relations officer for the Community Hospice Foundation. “Last year it funded almost half of the (PedsCare) program.”
The event has sold out every year and Davis said the cut-off for admittance to the event is 1,800 people. She added that tickets are still available.
The amount raised goes to all areas of the Community PedsCare program including nurses, chaplains, patient care and its grieving program.
“It goes to anything that they may need to ensure the children are receiving exceptional care,” said Davis.
The number of children in the program fluctuates, but Davis said there are about 80 children currently in the program from Northeast Florida.
The Community Hospice Foundation and over 100 volunteers put on the event each year, said Davis.
“We help the volunteers any way we can, but they are the ones that do all of the work,” she said.
This year’s co-chairs are Rebecca Schwam, Lara Siewert and Pamela Steitz.
The fundraiser began three years ago as a way to help raise money for the Community
PedsCare program that was established in 2001.
“The program is highly unfunded and we don’t get a lot of reimbursement for the program,” said Davis.
Community PedsCare is a “pediatric palliative and hospice program for children with life threatening conditions,” she said.
Halloween Doors & More is a unique fundraising gala because it is for both adults and children. While many galas are only for adults, this one is open to the whole family.
“The whole thing is family focused. They have made it a gala that everyone can attend,” she said.
Children — and adults — are welcome to come dressed in Halloween costumes, but Davis said the exception is scary costumes.
There aren’t too many changes to this year’s event. The entertainment changes every year in the theater and they are also redesigning last year’s new addition, the Toy Factory. Other festivities include Fantasy Doors, Magical Meet & Greet Streets, Candyland, Beauty and the Beast Salon, Trick-or-Treat Theatre, MonsterMash Family Disco, Ghostbusters Grown-Up Grotto and the Toy Factory.
The Fantasy Doors are one of the more unique aspects to the event that provide a trick-or-treating experience like no other, said Davis. Instead of candy, each child trick-or-treats for toys at each of the eight doors.
“It is nothing like you have ever seen,” she said. “It is hard to describe, it’s just an incredible experience.”
Halloween Doors & More
When: Oct. 13, 3-8 p.m.
Where: The Jacksonville Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall
Tickets: $100 per adult $50 per child ages 12 and under Children under the age of 2 are free
To purchase tickets: Call 886-3883 Visit www.communityhospice.com
Proceeds go to: Community PedsCare, a program of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida