Each year, the Scouts sell Halloween insurance to the community to help raise money for special events, trips or badges they intend to earn and to help clean up any Halloween trickery. This year was no exception as the local Lac La Biche Scout troop set out earlier in the week prior to All Hallow’s Eve to sell their service.
The troop managed to sell about $400 worth of insurance at the reasonable price of $20 per home or business. Last year, the insurance helped to clean up a car that had been ‘tricked’ during Halloween night but this year troop leader Michael Dayton has yet to receive a request for clean-ups.
“I usually drive around early the next day and see if anything needs to be cleaned. I didn’t see anything right away and I haven’t received any calls yet,” Dayton said. “We don’t normally get more than one or two calls.”
The insurance that the troop sells each year is to insure that local business and private members of the community have a reasonably priced option for clean up should their businesses or homes be vandalized over the course of the night of Halloween. This may include buildings being egged, toilet-papered, or even trash being thrown about.
The money that is raised through the sale of the insurance goes directly to the troop in support of projects they have on the go each year. To raise awareness for this year’s insurance fundraiser, Scouts took to the streets to drive up support, as well as a placed an advertisement in the Lac La Biche Post in hopes of gaining more customers.
“We went out and hit the downtown street on Friday [Oct.28]. I split up my troop and we walked down the street on either side from KFC until Terrabain Motors to try to sell our insurance to business,” Dayton said.
Last year, the funds raised went towards a trip to the Pacific Jamboree in Gibson, British Columbia.
This year, Dayton plans to put the money towards emergency survival kits for the Emergency Preparedness badge.
“It’s a badge that we are working on,” Dayton said.
“The kits would include food, emergency blankets and other things that you would need in an emergency.”
