Building Community for Kids: A Trick-or-Treat Event

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I am so excited to be partnering with our local businesses and organizations to support kids in my SMALL community! Let me take a moment to tell you all about it! Perhaps this will inspire you to take action and be an active member of your community!

My first question is, "Do you think that you can build trust with others by showing up and vounteering?" The answer to that question is, "Yes!"

The first thing you need to know is that my community is small, but spread out amongst several small towns. For those of you who do not understand the geography of many American Midwestern towns, they are small and separated by miles of beautiful farm ground. We may have several school districts amongst those communities and as a private educator, I want to stay visible in each one of them. That takes some very strategic planning on my part.

I also want to treat my role as a private reading tutor as a small business. This was what inspired me to join our local business club. We are very small, but when someone has an idea, everyone seems to jump on board.

Since my mission is to irradicate illiteracy by teaching students to the skills they need to become strong readers and writers, I am ALWAYS looking for ways to introduce my self to families!

This got me thinking about a fall event that our community could host for the three local school districts. I began chatting with our local business leaders and they loved the idea of hosting a Trick-or-Treat event on Main Street in my hometown of Uehling, Nebraska. Everyone I chatted with was on board so we set the date for one week before Halloween evening, and began to spread the word about the event.

I created a Facebook event and invited 500 people, then my friends and family shared it. I created flyers and shared them with the schools with the authorization of our local superintendents. I took an 80 mile round trip and posted flyers in local businesses. At the same time, I was finding games we could place in the street for the kids to play (yes, the street will be blocked off). And, I had personal conversations with EACH business owner and encouraged them to decide what they wanted to bring, if they wanted to set up a table or just stand there, and if they wanted to dress up in costume or just wear their business logos. EVERYONE loves the idea.

I even contacted the local highschool and asked the National Honor Society if they would be willing to come and help out with the games. They were on board as well!

As of today, we have 14 business and 3 local organizations who will be in attendance at this event on Thursday. I am proud of our community for stepping up and putting the kids first and providing a fun event for them. This is the FIRST time we have done this and we really do not know what to expect.

I have been busing doing social media posts and today, tomorrow, and Thursday, you will see me doing stories on all of my social media platforms to REMIND our busy moms and dads about it!

So back to that initial question, "Do you think you can build trust with others by showing up and vounteering?" The answer to that question is, "Yes!" However, I am going to ADD to that! You don't just SHOW UP, you engage in coversation, you smile, and you not only talk with the parents, but you talk with the kids. I typically talk to the kids first!

I will be packing my car with my table, table cover, my candy for the kids, and a FUN science experiment that the kids can do (with directions on my WEBSITE), all of the games, and on Thursday, I will add the heated hotdogs and buns for the first 50 kids in costume.

I will be sure to share the outcome with you! I am always excited to share fun ideas with others and I want to encourage you to take steps to be active in your community! I have always said, "It takes a village to raise a child." (unknown author) When I step up and help out at local events and support them, I am SHOWING others that I love kids and I want to be a part of that village!

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