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LEBANON, ME - The Lebanon Rescue Department held their 6th Annual Halloween Open House on Friday, October 30th and Saturday October 31, 2009 from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

The event was attended by over 500 people, with the rescue department handing out 346 public safety bags to children during the event. (346 children plus well over 150 parents visited). The safety bags had activity and coloring books, carbon monoxide safety info, emergency dial 911 stickers, junior paramedic badges, junior paramedic helmets and EMS stickers. This year we also had three crafts tables where children could paint ceramic pumpkins, make masks and color Halloween crafts. Last year, the department handed out 289 safety bags to children, so the event is continuing to attract more families.

The children and their parents were treated to freshly picked apples. They also were treated to candy and lots of public safety education material provided by the rescue department. The children took tours of the rescue departments command vehicle, off-road rescue vehicle and ambulance.

This year was also the first year that the rescue volunteers advertised that children could bring a canned food item to help other families in need during the Holiday Season. The rescue was able to collect about 40 cans of food to be donated to the Lebanon Food Pantry at the Center Lebanon Church. We hope next year to do even better as more people will know we are doing this to help our neighbors in need.

"Each year, we try to give families a safe and fun event to bring their children to on Halloween and Beggars Night. The children loved the tours of rescue vehicles. The weather was great and each year, we seem to attract more people." Rescue Chief Samantha Cole added.

The open house also provided residents a chance to meet their local rescue volunteers.

"The children and adults really seemed to enjoy meeting the rescue members and some of the children tried on the rescue members safety equipment. This year we tried something new by offering craft tables where children could paint porcelain pumpkins and make homemade masks. We only ordered about 100 porcelain pumpkins and they went quickly, we didn’t realize it would be such a hit!" Chief Cole added. "Each year the volunteers love seeing all of the new costumes and the smiles on the kids faces.”

Children from several neighboring communities stopped in at the event as well. Children from Lebanon, Sanford, Shapleigh, Rochester, Milton, Dover, Acton, Berwick and North Berwick attended the event.

“The Lebanon Rescue Department would like to all the local businesses that helped with donations and to the West Lebanon Ladies Circle for a donation to be used for candy as well. Several families brought bags of candy to donate to the cause as well. It truly is a community event and we are very proud of it.” Chief Cole added

“Each year, this continues to grow and we see more and more families. The volunteers love it because they get to see all of the children and hand out valuable safety information and they take pride in their volunteer work by showing the kids the rescue equipment. We look forward to building on what we have done and making it even better next year.” Chief Samantha Cole added.

“I would especially like to thank the volunteers who helped with this community event. These volunteers responded to several calls over the past few days and also stood by all day at the soccer games and then came to help us out during the open house. These events are so successful because we have a great family of rescue volunteers. They donate about 15,000 manpower hours each year to the community with emergency calls and helping their community through events like these. I cannot say enough good things about these men and women, I am very proud to lead this group.” Chief Cole added.