Good neighbor helps families at Halloween

Because her four children were of the age when Halloween costumes are the most important things in the world, it made Wendy Gruber of St. Charles quite aware of something else.

“I had just started volunteering at Lazarus House and wondered how those families managed getting costumes for their children during Halloween,” Gruber said of her experience at the St. Charles homeless shelter five years ago.

“I connected with the volunteer coordinator there and gathered donations from my basement and that of a few friends, so we were able to outfit all the children at Lazarus House that year,” she added.

But that was just the beginning. All good ideas deserve to become bigger, and Gruber’s grew by planning a yearly Halloween costume giveaway to families needing help.

“It has grown significantly each year by collecting costumes from family, friends, my children’s schools, our church, local mothers groups, and others,” Gruber explained. “Myself and several friends hunt for costumes largely discounted after Halloween.”

That sort of bargain hunting, along with donations, has resulted in up to 400 costumes being handed out each year.

But Gruber and her friends have hit the mother lode this year.

“This year I have at least 600 costumes and hope to pass them all out to smiling faces,” Gruber said.

The costumes, for infants to teens, are clean, bagged and ready to hand out from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Pottawatomie Community Center in St. Charles.

That’s chilling: Can a live performance onstage actually frighten you? Well, let’s at least say it can give you the creeps.That#146;s how I felt after attending a performance of Fox Valley Repertory#146;s #147;The Woman in Black#148; at Pheasant Run last weekend.A massive amount of dialogue between two fine actors, Alex Hugh Brown and Ron Rains, makes this play so interesting in telling a mysterious story that, like all good mysteries, gives you a good jolt at the end.The sound effects, stage setting and lighting were as good as any seen for a Fox Valley Repertory production. At least, it#146;s right up there with #147;Around the World in Eighty Days.#148;Engineering a Halloween: Can you combine a Halloween theme with science and engineering? Apparently, you can #8212; if you are involved with the second annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Math festival, known as STEMfest, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center.More than 100 hands-on demonstrations stress a Halloween theme and as many as 5,000 people are expected to attend. It covers the four fields of study that will keep our country competitive, plus some seasonal fun.dheun@sbcglobal.net