After bringing back a fun event last year for the first time in a while, NW Indiana ER & Hospital hosted their second consecutive trunk-or-treat event. This event was held on Thursday, October 24.
This event first came into fruition four years ago during the pandemic. Last year, NW Indiana ER & Hospital officially brought the event back and decided to continue it again this year. Krista Rubino, director of pharmacy at NW Indiana ER & Hospital views this event as the ultimate way to help out the organization while giving kids an evening to remember.
“It’s an event hosted by NW Indiana ER & Hospital and the fellow human vendors to provide candy to all the children in a safe environment,” Rubino said. “This is a way for us to expose our name to the community through something fun.”
Similar to last year, NW Indiana ER & Hospital held this event in the Cabela’s parking lot space near their Hammond campus. Kids who came through the trunk-or-treat lined up to check out each car, see spooky decorations and get some of their favorite forms of candy.
“I think it just provides the kids with a safe haven of happiness,” Rubino said. “Candy provides happiness in general for pretty much every kid out there. A lot of the kids who come here even make new friends when they see somebody wearing a costume they’ve never seen before.”
Amanda Jensen, chief nursing officer, is grateful that Cabela’s offered this space to them for this event once again. It’s been a long process getting everything organized to make sure the trunk-or-treat is a success.
“Last year was big for us because we put in a lot of effort to bring this back following the pandemic,” Jensen said. “We’ve been thinking about this event since a few weeks after we officially brought it back last year. We started planning things out in January, and Cabela’s was kind enough to let us host the trunk-or-treat in this space for another year.”
Jensen’s favorite part of this event is seeing the creativity on full display. From the costumes to the trunks, the decorations are always trendy for this event.
“It’s really cool to see what the kids come up with and what’s popular to them,” Jensen said. “We’re no longer kids, so they might like different things than we once did. It’s heartwarming to see their family members get involved by dressing up and participating. On Halloween, it’s pretty common to see kids grouped together. This type of event is nice because we get to see the kids have a good time with their families.”
The turnout for this year’s event was the biggest one yet. NW Indiana ER & Hospital appreciates helping out the community and putting smiles on people’s faces. Their team is hopeful this tradition can keep growing over the years.
“The best part about this event for our team is that we get to work together on something exciting outside of our workplace,” Rubino said. “We try our best to volunteer our time to the community and this is one of the best ways that we can do it during the fall season.”
Kids in attendance also got the opportunity to meet Scoopie the Ice Cream Cone, the Culver’s mascot. Families were offered Culver’s tokens for a free scoop of ice cream at the location just across the street from NW Indiana ER & Hospital’s Hammond campus.
For more information on NW Indiana ER & Hospital, you can visit their website.
