College welcomes super heroes, frozen princesses and their parents for teachable trick-or-treating

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Children dressed as Superman, Wonder Woman, a sumo wrestler and Elsa from the Disney animated film Frozen gathered at the Manhattan College campus last week for an annual “Safe Halloween” party.

The free event, offered to local children as an afternoon of trick-or-treating, fun and learning outside of the classroom, was a hit. More than 200 young people and their families attended.

Vittoria Gomez, 8, who dressed up as the Green Lantern, said summarized her reasons for wanting to come to the party: “the free candy and I love dressing up and popcorn.”

She was there with her grandmother and with her aunt Dannyvia Gomez, whose 2-year-old son Etienne came as a master chef — white hat included – and whose 3-month-old daughter Valentina wore bright green pants and a T-shirt with the word “Boo!” written on it. Ms. Gomez recently moved to Riverdale. She learned of the party on Facebook and wanted to attend.

Stephanie Stone said her 3-year-old twin daughters, Addie and Izzy, “love Halloween” and were excited to go trick-or-treating and start their Halloween a little early.

“Candy,” Addie said with a smile, when asked about what she liked most about the day. Izzy shyly answered that she liked the candy, too. The two wore outfits inspired by the rap group Run-DMC’s song “It’s Tricky.” Their white varsity-style shirts had the words “It’s tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky” written on them, and their shoes were decorated with images of kittens.

For Ana Gonzalez Ribeiro and her husband Sergio, the party was a way for their 4-year-old son Michael Max to enjoy the day and feel included in the festivities, although he could not eat some of the candy.

“It was really a great idea for them to have a table with books to give away to kids. That’s the best part… because he has a lot of food allergies,” Ms. Gonzalez Ribeiro said. “The children that have allergies to nuts and things like that, they really can’t go out trick-or-treating as much because it’s worrisome to have candy with peanuts and what not in it.”

Michael Max, dressed as a Roman soldier, looked happy as he turned the pages of a book he had received.

“’Safe Halloween’ was created to have an event where children from the Bronx could go trick-or-treating, where as they might not have the opportunity because their neighborhoods might not be a safe place,” said Deborah Greenblatt, an assistant professor of education and faculty advisor to Kappa Delta Pi, a campus honor society, which organized the party.

Local businesses donated candy for the party and the college’s office of campus and community events helped publicize the gathering, Ms. Greenblatt said.

The party was also a literacy promotion, so kids could get free books, as well as candy, she said.

“It’s great that the kids are coming out and that they’re trick-or-treating safely, but a lot of the rooms have incorporated different and fun ideas, where the students are learning at the same time. So, it’s engaging them without even knowing it,” said Brigid Phelan, a Kappa Delta Pi co-president. Ms. Phelan, who is a junior, wore a Superman T-shirt.

Manhattan College, Safe Halloween, trick-or-treat, Kappa Delta Pi, Brigid Phelan, Deborah Greenblatt, Lisa Herndon

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