Niles Haunted House accepts the Ice Bucket Challenge
Published 8:46 am Thursday, August 28, 2014
Taking the ice bucket challenge, from left, are Pete Karlowicz, Nathan Chupp, Matt Herm and Trent Rainwater. In the back row (not visible through all the water) are Aaron Smith and Randy Sheneman.
A group of managers and supervisors at the Niles Haunted House Scream Park accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Sunday.
The Ice Bucket Challenge has become a viral fund-raiser for organizations fighting ALS and researching a cure. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord and eventually leads to death. The challenge is to dump a bucket of ice water over your head or to “pay the price” by making a donation if you refuse to do so.
Rodney York, one of the supervisors at the Niles Haunted House, took the Ice Bucket Challenge and publically challenged Pete Karlowicz, Scream Park supervisor, and Matt Herm, assistant supervisor, to participate in the challenge. They were soon joined by other volunteers, Aaron Smith, Trent Rainwater, Randy Sheneman and Nathan Chupp.
Instead of using small hand-held buckets, they were drenched by ice and water from the bucket of a front-end loader. The Scream Park construction manager Joe Leach operated the loader for this event because he had already done the ice bucket challenge on an earlier occasion.
Despite having completed the challenge, the Niles Haunted House still will make a donation for ALS research. Don Kirkendall, president of the NHH Board of Directors, is very excited about how successful the challenge was for such a great cause and he was happy the volunteers were able to participate. Kirkendall said he also was very happy he had not been personally challenged.
In order to spread the word in the haunt industry, Karlowicz issued a challenge to Jim Burns, the owner and operator of The Haunt in Grand Rapids and Matt Herm challenged Brett Molitor, owner and operator of the Haunted Hotel 13th Floor and Hysterium in Huntington, Indiana. Aaron Smith issued a challenge to Rick Singleton of Fear Itself at Legends Park in Mishawaka.
The Scream Park volunteers were at the park on Sunday preparing for opening day, which is Friday, Sept. 12.
More information about the Scream Park can be obtained by visiting the Niles Haunted House website at haunted.org or calling (269) 687-FEAR.
