Cokeburg woman turns passion for yearly event into food drive
Betty Lou Amorose in her Cokeburg yard, where four generations of her family have filled it with Halloween decorations for a food drive.
The “cemetery” section of a spooky display at 112 Washington St. in Cokeburg.
COKEBURG – Four generations of the same family have turned the lawn of a house in an otherwise sleepy Cokeburg neighborhood into a Halloween wonderland all for the sake of a local charity.
Betty Lou Amorose said her mom, daughter and grandchildren joined her in filling her yard at 112 Washington St. with ghoulish decorations to draw attention to her food drive for Greater Washington County Food Bank.
“This my hobby. I love Halloween,” Amorose said Wednesday at her front gate, where the arch will soon be dripping with swimming pool noodles.
Ghosts hang from a nearby tree next to a carnival show of sorts featuring scary clowns and plastic, life-sized rats. A short distance away is planted a mock cemetery with headstones, including one with the inscription, “You got the body I got the brains.”
“I had to put up deer cams because people were taking stuff,” said Amorose, a nurse at Washington Hospital.
She said local children especially enjoy her display on trick-or-treat night, when her food drive will come to an end.
Anyone interested in making a donation of nonperishable food to the drive can stop by the house throughout the day. Amorose also is accepting checks payable to the food bank.
Last year, she said, she received enough donations to fill up her sport-utility vehicle with food and diapers.
“Thank you for helping to scare away hunger and for last year’s success,” she said.