Our group is based out of West Frankfort, located in Franklin County, Illinois. Franklin County is an economically-struggling county with a lot of determination to keep on keeping on. In 2003, I heard of a local girl, about 12 at the time, who had been diagnosed with terminal leukemia. Her family did not have the money to visit her at St. Judes and we wanted to do something to help them get there to be with her. That's how our group got started. We did one event to raise a few hundred dollars and the feeling of doing something so small that made such a big difference for someone else has kept us going for six years now. These types of situations aren't uncommon in our county. People choose between medication and food every day. The food pantry has a long line of people who wait in cold, embarresed and feeling helpless, but having to take the food in order to feed not only themselves but sometimes families with two and three small kids. We see kindergarteners who leave the grade school in the middle of winter with nothing but a tshirt on, they don't have a winter coat. Other kids watch as the school does Show and Tell and have nothing to show or to tell about. They got shoes for Christmas. Their family couldn't afford toys. In these times of struggle and in hardship our group steps forward. Our committee is by no means made of up wealthy people. We are rich only in love, determination to make a difference, and the ability to go out and seek others to help us with our goal of bringing something back to our community that might otherwise fade...hope.

Haunted West Frankfort is a project that continues throughout the year with our fiscal year for fundraising and giveaways coming to an end each Oct. 31 at the culmination of our signature event, a haunted house. Each month of the year and through the entire year our group does dozens of fundraisers throughout our county. We team up with other groups to help with their fundraising efforts, put together events of our own, and ask for donations for worthwhile projects. Basically, we do whatever we can to get money and goods (including food, clothes, school supplies, etc) to people who need it. We give portions of our fundraising money away throughout the year as we see and are told of needs. In October, we do our yearly haunted house, although it takes several months to plan and build. We make between $4,000 and $10,000 each year (over the six years we've done this) and we allocate that money to specific projects that we want to support. Those projects have included buying thousands of dollars worth of turkey's and fixins for the local food pantry, just before Thanksgiving and Christmas giveaways. We don't just write a check. We load up carts and buy the turkey's...put them in our cars...and hand deliver them to the pantry. We do a Relay for Life team for our local American Cancer Society and give donations to help support cancer research. We give money to our local animal shelter to support the no-kill center's efforts to care for animals. We participate in Franklin County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) who represent children wrapped up in the court system and too young to speak for themselves. We work with Shop with a Cop, Baskets and Jackets, and also give back to local individuals who just need help getting to and from the hospital, feeding their family, or buying Christmas presents. We do whatever needs to be done to help others. We want to DO SOMETHING that will change our community for the better, thus making the world, if only in a small way, a better place.

Our steps were small. We began one week before Halloween in 2003. We hung some tarp and painted our faces. We had only a handful of volunteers, mostly my close friends, and we made $800 that was donated to the Price Family for travel expenses to and from St. Judes Hospital. The next year we decided to do it again and started planning early in the year. We made $10,000 and gave every dime back to programs in the community. For years, I had been doing community service work on my own. After our second year so many people wanted to be involved that I started to connect the pieces together and developed the one committee and network of volunteers that spread out to do good across our region. We are now trying to obtain our 501(c)(3) and have a network of about 70 volunteers throughout the year. Our board of five works year round to come up with fundraising ideas and searching for projects and people in need of a helping hand. We have been able to help countless people through one or more of our efforts. We have given people food to put on their table and money to go see their loved ones. We have offered a Merry Christmas to kids who would have otherwise not had one and we have stood up in the face of economic struggle and said...money isn't everyhing...we have hope and we want you to know that we are here and you will have the things you need.

Others can help by looking for people in need and asking themselves what they can do to help? Do you know somebody who provides a service that might be of use to someone else? Ask them if they will help. Do you have a skill that might help make someone else's life better? Help them.