Student Organizes Haunted House to Benefit Missoula Food Bank

This October, a local student will transform his home and invite the community to enjoy a haunted hallway in hopes of raising awareness about local hunger, and food for Missoula Food Bank.

Jake Laskin is a senior at Sentinel High School.  For the past several years, he has organized the Haunted Hallway at his home on Halloween as a fun thing to do.  This year, though, for his senior project, Laskin is expanding the hours of the neighborhood haunted house, and requesting donations to help stock the shelves at Missoula Food Bank.

“I have built a Haunted House every year for the last six or seven years and never charged admission. Last year, over 500 people came on Halloween night alone. I decided that with that amount of people I could make a big impact for this organization.

Since Halloween is the beginning of the holiday season, I thought there was no better way to help the hungry than the Missoula Food Bank”, says Laskin.

Most wanted items at Missoula Food Bank going into the holiday season include pantry staples like peanut butter, tuna fish and any variety of fruit canned in juice or light syrup.

Missoula Food Bank has consistently provided more than 6,000 services each month during 2014, and projects that services will top 90,000 through all programs by year end. The Haunted Hallway is located at 4823 Scott Allen Drive in Missoula and will be open on October 24 and 25 from 6:30pm-9:00pm; on October 30 from 6:00pm-9:00pm; and on Halloween night, October 31, from 5:30pm-midnight.

Entry is a recommended donation of nonperishable food for Missoula Food Bank. HauntedHallway2014 #### Missoula Food Bank is the primary resource for emergency food assistance in Missoula County.  In 2013, the organization served one in seven people county wide through its choice-model pantry, rural satellite pantries and special programs serving children and seniors.  Missoula Food Bank is open for distribution Monday through Friday from 10:00am-1:00pm, and Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:00-7:00pm.  More information about programs, services, and volunteer opportunities can be found at www.missoulafoodbank.org