LITHIA, Fla. — A FishHawk family turned their garage and backyard into a haunted house.
The annual tradition attracts thousands to the FishHawk Ranch neighborhood.
Tim Kugler said he has always loved Halloween.
"I can remember as a young kid just loving Halloween and loving the idea of haunted houses. I think I was 10 or 11, I remember getting in trouble because I made a haunted house in my basement, and I was tying strings and stuff to like vases of my mom's and broke stuff. I can very vividly remember those things even as a young kid," said Kugler.
Kugler, his wife, and two children all participate in the annual tradition. Kugler starts decorating in the beginning of October.
"We have so much help from friends and family. I have family members that fly in from Pennsylvania and Chicago and people that come in from St. Pete," he said.
Kugler partnered with a local charity, Seeds of Hope. He said visiting the FishHawk Fright House is free, but he asked trick-or-treaters to bring non-perishable food items.
"The need for food is year-round, unfortunately. There's a special emphasis on making sure people have food for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's," said Kevin Robbins, Seeds of Hope Food Pantry Director.
"We're now doing 325, 350 families every week. Once COVID started to subside, then we had inflation. The need has just grown over the last three years."
Kugler said high school students volunteer their time by dressing in costume, managing the line or handing out candy. The partnership with the non-profit organization allows students to volunteer in exchange for volunteer hours needed to qualify for Bright Futures Scholarship.
"People are surprised at how good it is for just being a little neighborhood haunt kind of thing," said Kugler.
Kugler said last year's event lasted two days since Halloween fell on a weekend.
"Last year, we had about 2,300 visitors come through over the two nights," said Kugler.
"Some of them will be so scared, they'll literally drop their bags of candy and run away. At the end of the night, we have bags of candy. Whose bag is this?" said Kugler.
To learn more about Seeds of Hope, visit here.
