A local organization will dress up as witches in the spirit of
Halloween on Sunday and walk through downtown Hollister for a
charitable cause.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West No. 179 from San Juan
Bautista will do a Witches Walk with the help of the Mom and Kids
Group to raise money for children throughout the state. The event
will begin at Dorothy McNett’s Place.
By ANDREW BOLLINGER
A local organization will dress up as witches in the spirit of Halloween on Sunday and walk through downtown Hollister for a charitable cause.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West No. 179 from San Juan Bautista will do a Witches Walk with the help of the Mom and Kids Group to raise money for children throughout the state. The event will begin at Dorothy McNett’s Place.
The two groups will hand out cauldrons to merchants in the downtown area in hopes of collecting money for their foundation.
The organization – Childrens Foundation – was founded and is sponsored by the NDGW. Their goal is to raise money for kids 18 and younger who live in middle to low income homes with families that can’t afford all of their needs and that do not otherwise qualify for any other programs.
NDGW President Claudia Fisher said the money collected will help pay for medical bills for many children.
Other items, like eye glasses, wheelchairs and scholarships will also be paid for, according to Kathleen Wright, parlor trustee.
“We work to fill a niche that no one else provides,” Wright said. “There are groups out there that help kids with certain types of needs, but this seems to be the only one that I know of that kind of fills in the pieces – whatever the family needs for the children.”
Sunday’s fund-raiser won’t be the only one the group will be doing in conjunction with Halloween. The organization also plans to do fund-raisers in San Juan Bautista, Aromas and Tres Pinos, Wright said.
By the time the event is completed, 75 homemade cauldrons will have been handed out to local merchants around the county, Fisher said.
The foundation plans to collect the cauldrons that were handed out in Hollister on Halloween.
Fisher said last year’s fund-raiser – a rock-a-thon, where members were sponsored for the number of hours they rocked in a rocking chair – helped raise $1,100 for children. NDGW would like to surpass last year’s total, but Fisher said they will be happy with whatever they get, whether it is $100, $1,000 or more.
“It’s all donations,” Fisher said. “Whatever we can get (will be good.)”
Wright said even though the Witches Walk has not been done before, they expect it to be successful and can be done again next year.
“We hope it’s going to be an annual event,” she said. “(We) thought it would be a fun thing to do – go around as a Halloween theme and try to involve some of the local children and their moms.”
Along with helping kids through their Childrens Foundation, NDGW also protects and preserves natural resources and various historical landmarks throughout California, including the 27 missions.
In April, NDGW celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the naming of the Poppy as the state flower of California by planting seeds along trails, paths, highways and in parks.
Anyone can apply to the Childrens Foundation or to become a member of NDGW. The only requirement for membership into the organization is to have been born in California. An application for the Childrens Foundation is available at www.ndgw.org.
For more information about the group or to become a member, call 831-623-4634.
