The event was a definite success. 4 empty houses and 9 volunteers saw a collective 400 kids and went through 12 pounds of candy. We wound up not getting foreclosed homes, but we did line up homes that were empty and on the market for sale. One of the sellers was so enthusiastic that he donated 4 pounds of candy to the cause. A local developer who worked with us is in the process of flipping close to 50 homes throughout Chicago and may want our help next year. Every volunteer said they'd definitely do it again next year.
We were covered by the RedEye, a tabloid spinoff of the Chicago Tribune, and promoted by the local police to thousands of readers on their mailing list. We got the endorsement of our local alderman and were used as a training exercise for a North Park University journalism class.
All with a 16 day lead.
As the campaign coordinator for the project's first year, I can definitely say that my stage management experience played a huge role in getting the whole thing assembled. Lining up the venues, assembling the welcome packets and checklists for the volunteers, presetting and striking the house setups, determining what would be necessary for an outdoor event at sunset, communicating progress to the community leaders - it all felt very familiar.
The IT techniques that I used to get the word out over the past 16 days I largely learned from working on this site. So thank you guys.
If you're interested in doing something similar in your neighborhood next Halloween let me know!
