Local Girl Scout Troop Haunts Helps The Needy

The normally helpful girls from Girl Scout Troop #5161 spent this past weekend scaring local residents during their annual Haunted Walk at the Grange Estate in Havertown.

“This is our 8th year doing the haunted walk and the girls love it,” Troop leader Pam Brigandi says.

For the last three years, the Grange Estate has donated one weekend in October to the troop who transforms the property into a haunted walk. In exchange for the use of the estate, the Girl Scout troop volunteers to help the Grange estate in various community projects throughout the year.

The Girl Scout Troop is mostly juniors from , but each year they team up with a younger troop to teach them their haunted ways so that the younger troop can continue the tradition. This year that troop is #5720 which is mostly of fifth graders from and elementary schools.

Visitors to the haunted walk are led through various spooky scenes with a little gore mixed in while scary music is piped in throughout the walk.

This Patch reporter unwittingly helped scare some visitors while hiding along the haunted path when my flash helped spook them as scary creatures jumped out from behind the trees.

 “I hate Halloween but I never miss this event. I love it and it’s fun to scare people,” Liz Kurdyla, a junior at Haverford High School says. Her ghoulish face make-up took over a half hour to apply.

Eva Mark and Rosie Caugush, both fifth graders at Coopertown Elementary School were working at the haunted walk for the first time this year.

Mark says, “I love it and will definitely be back next year!”

However, friend Rosie Caugush admitted to Patch that she was “a little scared at imes but would certainly be back next year.”

Sofia Isayev, a fifth grader at Coopertown tells Patch proudly, “I’m a plant. I go in with different groups of people and act scared so they are more scared. It’s fun." However, sometimes she admits, “I’m not pretending, I’m really scared myself.”

Lily, 5,  of Havertown was about to enter the haunted walked and spouted, “I’m not scared." She was there with her 2-year-old brother Zach and Dad Mike along with neighbor Rebecca and her two children, 3 year-old Kyle and 10-month old Declan.

Briganti says the event is a “great way for the girls to be together and raise money to fund our community service projects. The spooky weekend made $1,500 this year. With the money we raised this weekend, we will help feed the needy throughout Delaware County.  During the year, we make meals and care packages that are distributed by local churches to organizations like Aid for Friends and Philabundance."