PKCC residents have Halloween visitors

E-Mail this story
Print this story

tool name

close

tool goes here

BY DONNA DIETRICH

Special to The Reporter

Posted - Friday, November 06, 2009 11:00 AM EST

Goblins and ghouls, cave men, hula girls, pirates and princesses came out in numbers last Friday afternoon to help celebrate Halloween with residents and staff at Plantation Key Convalescent Center.

Outside the main entrance, residents decked out in Halloween wear greeted families as they arrived in their costumes. Staff members dressed in pirate costumes sang and enacted sword fights. Amid the festivities, Islamorada firefighters arrived with two fire trucks. Whoops of delight and applause erupted when the firemen sounded the sirens.

In the cafeteria some residents handed out decorated bags of candy to costumed local kids who came by to trick-or-treat. A couple of the visiting kids took over the microphone and led the gathered residents and visitors in a few rounds of “Old MacDonald.”

Middle school students Martin Quezada, Kyle Carron, Alex Vinney and Alex’s little sister, Hannah, read about the Halloween celebration in their school newsletter and came in costume to visit the center’s residents. They came “because it was fun, and it made for a good time for the old folks” according to the boys.

The boys also helped by pushing wheelchair-bound residents through the hallways during the Center’s parade. Deena Williams, mom of Alex and Hannah, said she was happy to drive the kids down from Key Largo and was proud of their decision to come. The boys added that they thought the residents of the convalescent center would “get a good laugh from our costumes.”

Mari Etta Stoner brought her 94-year-old dad to the party because he had spent time in the convalescent center a few years ago and knew some of the residents. He was dressed as Father Time and escorted his wife, 83, dressed as Mother Earth.