Calvin’s Light in the Night on Halloween
Halloween Spirit at Knollcrest East
by Katie Boender, Ale Crevier, Dena DeKryger, and Emilee McCusker
A palpable spirit of camaraderie filled each apartment building at on the 31st, as costumed students lined the hallways, cradling baskets and bowls of candy.
Light in the Night is one of the most time-intensive events the Knollcrest East apartments puts on annually, and the help of residents is essential in pulling it off. In the early days of October, each of the eleven KE Resident Assistants select a theme for their building, recruit the help of their residents, and decide how to decorate their buildings. This year’s themes included Tangled, Star Wars, Finding Dory, Monsters, Inc., and Minecraft.
Students contributed creative ideas for decorating, and RAs organized and hosted decorating parties the week leading up to LITN. RA Jennifer Coria said, “When we first began promoting for Light In the Night it was a bit stressful because residents wouldn’t show up to our craft parties, but as the date got closer it was incredible to see how everyone worked together and donated their time to make this happen.”
Hard work on Light in the Night is rewarded: the trick-or-treaters cast votes on the best-decorated building at the end of their walk. The Delta apartment won for their Tangled theme decorations and received a catered Qdoba party. As extra motivation, the name of each helping student was entered into a prize raffle once for every half hour they contribute to working on LITN. The “Ticket” In
The “ticket,” to get into Light in the Night isn’t a very common type of ticket. The families and children that come to Light in the Night are asked to bring cans of food to donate, in order to participate in this event.
But where do all of the cans collected on Halloween go? The food collected will go to Bethany Christian Services, a Christian, “global non-profit organization that brings families together and keeps families together,” according to Bethany’s statement.
Bethany’s different services include adoption, foster care, pregnancy counseling. Additionally, the non-profit provides counseling to families, assist refugees and immigrants that come to the United States, and partner with several international countries, according to their website.
With all of the services Bethany provides, the non-profit puts the services in the framework of a Christian mindset. Part of their statement says, “God loves children and so do we. Every child deserves a loving family.”
Bethany, an organization that promotes the wellbeing of children and family, is a great fit for the food cans to go to because it fits well with Light in the Night, which supports families coming together to enjoy good family-friendly fun.
Bethany also hosted their “Trunk N’ Treat” event on October 26. This event was family friendly, and invited all who hosted to come prepared to don their trunks with decorations, treats, and more. Kids could then dress up in costumes and collect candy.
