{"id":158123,"date":"2023-11-03T10:37:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T14:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=158123"},"modified":"2023-11-06T16:03:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T21:03:20","slug":"we-appreciate-this-so-much-a-gift-of-smiles-on-a-frosty-halloween-evening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2023\/11\/03\/we-appreciate-this-so-much-a-gift-of-smiles-on-a-frosty-halloween-evening\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We appreciate this so much:’ a gift of smiles on a frosty Halloween evening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Late on Tuesday afternoon, a 6-year-old girl and her family made their way down Alumni Walk, which had been transformed from a pedestrian walkway into a Halloween paradise by Bates students \u2014 with a candy assist from the Red Cross \u2014 as a way to show love for their Lewiston community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It had been just six days since the shootings in Lewiston. Pain and worry ruled days and nights. But now, at twilight on a frosty fall day, there could be, and were, smiles everywhere as children and families flocked from the Lewiston community to the Bates campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

On Alumni Walk, as well as around the corner on Bardwell Street and on nearby Frye Street, they were met with an outpouring of emotion, support, and bagfuls of treats from hundreds of Bates students who had, on short notice and in response to the tragedy, had tripled the size of a planned community trick-or-treat event for nearby Frye Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Local
In front of Smith Hall on Bardwell Street, Bates students greet children and families from the Lewiston community during a Halloween trick-or-treat event held to support the community following the Lewiston shootings on Oct. 25. (Huck Triggs ’24 for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The smiling little girl, dressed as Cat Noir from the animated TV series Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir<\/em>, was trailed by her mom, Marissa Porter of Auburn, and her grandmother, Jennifer Randall of Lewiston. The young child, said Porter, had been too scared to return to school since the crisis. \u201cShe has been struggling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of her family members are in the military, and the man who committed the shootings was an Army reservist. \u201cShe\u2019s scared,\u201d said Randall. \u201cShe\u2019s always known military people to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randall watched as Bates students greeted her grandchild with great warmth. \u201cThe way they are engaging with her \u2014 it\u2019s so important. She needs this. We appreciate this so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steven Wiles and Evelyn Wiles of Lewiston and Gardiner, respectively, had heard about the Bates Halloween event that morning and decided right away to come to campus with their child. After a week that has left everyone frayed and edgy, \u201cBates is the place to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A crowd of Bates students happily dance with a trick-or-treater dressed as Wednesday from the <\/em>Addams Family during the Halloween event held on campus:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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@ek3451267<\/a>

Shoutout to bates college noticing my sister was wednesday and playing the song specially for her to dance with her! She felt so special for the rest of the night! #wednesdayaddams<\/a> #addamsfamily<\/a> #fyp<\/a> #halloween<\/a> #batescollege<\/a> <\/p> \u266c original sound – Emma Kilton<\/a> <\/section> <\/blockquote>