Many of our chapters support the Ronald McDonald House, which provides help to families who have a sick child being treated in hospital. The Fisher House Foundation has a similar premise targeted at military families — they operate a network of comfort homes where families can stay while an injured service member is receiving treatment. For the MOMS Club of Kaiserslautern Military Community, Germany, the Fisher House is a vital help to members of their community — and they wanted a way to help out.
This year, the chapter hosted their 2nd annual MOMSter Mash, a Halloween party that is not your average chapter party. It’s a huge outreach/family event for the entire US military community in Germany. The entire event is free for the community to attend — over 700 people walked through the doors and made it a fabulous event!
Guests had the opportunity to visit several stations including a coloring station, games, and even a bounce house. They even rigged up a toddler-style trunk-or-treat — since cars were in short supply, they painted cardboard boxes to look like cars so that the kids could get their candy fix! To keep everyone’s energy up as they participated hot dogs, chips, and dessert was provided.
To raise money for the Fisher House, the party had raffle prizes donated from local businesses (including a lot of businesses owned and operated by military spouses). Attendees could either purchase a ticket with money or they had the option to ‘purchase’ it with a donated item for the house.
All in all, the event raised over $1,000 for the Fisher House, including cash (for gift cards) and donated items such as toiletries, food, and water. And what’s more — it was a great and fun Halloween event for all the service members, spouses and kids that were able to join!