The Community Benefit Committee needs help as Halloween approaches

The Community Benefit Committee is working hard to make sure this spooky season tops them all.

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – With Halloween is right around the corner, the Community Benefit Committee is getting ready to host their Haunted House, “Dead Pirates Cove”.

Trick or treating, hayrides, and Haunted Houses. All essential to Halloween.

The Community Benefit Committee is working hard to make sure this spooky season tops them all.

“It’s going to be great. It’s going to be bigger and better. We’re just asking our community to come out and support our kids and our community. We wanted to do something a little different and we come up with the pirate ship,” Rhonda Sanders said.

Over the last several weeks, President of the Committee Rhonda Sanders, and her team of volunteers have been rolling up their sleeves to build “Dead Pirates Cove” – a pirate-themed haunted house at Columbus Fairgrounds.

Thomas Watkins is on the construction team.

“We had to have a lot of help and we had assist that come out here one day. We put all the walls together and it take several hours, about 9 hours to stand the walls up. Then it takes us going through, putting the rooms the way we want to decorate them,” Watkins said.

While the Haunted House is for Halloween, Sanders and Watkins said this event will raise funds for other holidays.

“This will help buy Christmas for a lot of needy parents. COVID really put a damper on a lot of people working, we have a lot of people that’s out that was able to afford Christmas for their kids and this year it was a little rougher. So, we going to try to help some of these kids by buying bikes and buy toys for them to get them for Christmas,” Sanders said.

Sanders said there’s still so much that needs to be done before they can open the doors on Halloween weekend. And the more volunteers that they can get, the more kids they can help during the Christmas season.

“We need volunteers. It takes about 50, 75 would be great to have different people in their house to help run it,” Sanders said.

“I love helping kids and this is for kids that does not have Christmas. Parents are not able to buy them Christmas. And that’s why I’m doing this. That’s why other people should, to help the other kids,” Watkins said.

For anyone who is wanting to help volunteer, contact the Community Benefit Committee or Rhonda Sanders at the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.