Even frights get better with a little help from friends, something Paul Coxe is learning this year.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK / Paul Coxe
November 06, 2019 - 6:30 PM
The Grenfell Road haunted house in Kelowna that scares the pants off the most stoic adult and delights all Halloween fans all the while supporting the food bank has hit another milestone.
"With the addition of more non-scary days for those who didn’t want to be scared, we surpassed all of last year’s record numbers and expectations," Clarence Johnson, one of the organizers said in a press release. "This year we had 5,022 people passing through the haunted house."
Donations of either cash and/or food donations for the Central Okanagan Food Bank were gathered and in the end, they were able to donate $4,059.15 cash and 4,420 pounds of food, which filled six bins that are used at the food bank. The combined value of cash and food donations was equivalent to $15,109.15.
“Our hearts are so incredibly filled with gratitude,” Tamie Williams. of the Central Okanagan Food Bank said. "The donations of food and funds collected during the run of this year’s Grenfell Road Haunted House will enable us to continue to provide nourishment for our clients, now and as we head into our Christmas operations."
The haunted house is the work of Paul Coxe, whose love of the macabre has made Halloween a particularly special event for the people in his life.
“He lives for it — he loves scaring people,” Johnson, a close friend of Coxe’s, said.
This year, however, Coxe wasn't well, as the effects of a disease that affects his ability to breathe were more pronounced.
It all came together with the support of family, friends, and of course the community itself. Friends Gareth, Carl, Candace, and so many others who worked tirelessly with the setup and tear down of the haunted house. Avalon Event Rentals, Rayacom Print & Design, My Country Garden, Moduloc Fencing, Sunbelt Rentals, Village Flowers, Milton Towing and Claremar Delivery Service also pitched in to make it go seamlessly.
In the last four years, the popularity of his field of screams has grown and so too has its audience. In 2016 he had 800 travel through the haunted house he built, then in 2017 there were 3,000 and in 2018 there were over 4,000.
Those 4,000 people from 2018 brought in $13,000 of food and cash that was donated to the Central Okanagan Food Bank.
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