Halloween pop-up shop donates costumes to families affected by floods

KATY, Texas – Since Hurricane Harvey hit, there have been long lines every weekend at Bear Creek Elementary to pick up essential items for those who lost everything.

Items like clothes, food and household appliances -- you name it, Katy ISD has thought of it.

That’s where Michelle Donahue and Becky Schmidt enter the story. 

Donahue and Schmidt are mothers with kids in Katy ISD schools, and they wanted to come up with something different to give back. 

“(Regularly donated items were) starting to get turned away, so I was trying to think down the road of kids who still need normalcy in their lives and what can we do to make them still feel like a kid, and Halloween was the closest thing,” Schmidt said.

The pair has collected at least 600 hundred costumes so far and are in need of more.

“Elementary-aged kids’ costumes is our greatest need at this time, and they can find us on Facebook at Harvey Can’t Scare Halloween Away if they need more information,” Donahue said.

For a link to the Facebook group click here. 

It’s admittedly a small sample size, but an excited Sophia Gonzalez-Perez, 6, proved the idea was a hit. She fit perfectly in a Belle costume from Beauty and the Beast.

“I like it and it looks so pretty,” Gonzalez-Perez said.

Salma Valencia, 9, and her family are also victims of Harvey. Her father Gabriel said their home was inundated with water. They may have lost everything they owned, but the help they’ve received from the community is overwhelming, he said.

“We’ve had easily close to 100 people that have helped us with different things, ” Gabriel Valencia said.

The Valencias weren't in the market for a Halloween costume, or so they thought, until Gabriel’s kids spotted the costume table inside the gym at Bear Creek. Salma decided to dress up as a witch because she said last year, she was a wizard.

Donahue and Schmidt plan to hold more pop-up costume shops. The next one is Monday from 5-7 p.m. at Creech Elementary, which is now located at 4242 S Mason Rd, Katy, TX 77450.

The next one after that is Sunday, Oct.15, from 1-4 p.m. at the Courtyard Marriott by Katy Mills located at 25402 Katy Mills Pkwy, Katy, TX 77494. 

Anyone is welcome to attend, not just Katy ISD families.

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