Halloween Public Service Announcement

Halloween is quickly approaching! I find it remarkable how quickly fall seems to sneak up on me every year, and it seems that fall gets a tiny bit sneakier each and every year.

I remember being a young child (about 20 years ago) and there being new breaking news coverage nearly every Halloween season about drugs and razor blades and etc being found in trick or treater's candies. Every year, the police department volunteers to go through your child's candy to ensure that nothing has been tainted. And then every year, some child somewhere still dies from some sort of tragic event. 

And candy aside, we all know that neighborhoods are not what they once were. There are just a lot more people and cars everywhere and the streets that may have been totally safe when you were a kid are no longer safe for your child to go trick or treating on.

That's why I would like to take a moment to remind you about Fall Festivals! There are communities all over each state that host Fall Festivals. Sometimes its entire neighborhoods that put it on (in those few and far between super safe ones), community downtown areas, schools, or churches. Its always in a well-lit area where kind volunteers offer up their services to provide candy to kiddos in a safe environment with plenty of chaperones and staff around to ensure 100% safety.,

My church has been hosting Trunk or Treat for several years now and  it has always been an enormous hit. The entire community comes to it. Sometimes, we get hundreds of cars and even more hundreds of children and their families. And its just totally awesome. And additional safety measure is that all of the candy that is put in the trunks has been donated directly to the church office, and the candy has been gone through. So, the candy has already been screened for anything that may be harmful to your child.

Some families don't even let their children participate in the festivities anymore because of the dangers. Don't do that! There are options!

Some families still participate but perhaps they do it in an area that really isn't all that safe. Don't do that either!

Go find a local fall festival and let your kids be kids while you have the peace of mind knowing that they are much safer there than in many of our local neighborhoods.

Thanks for listening and stay safe out there!

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