Posted on October 31, 2019
Halloween Heroes celebrate in style
Kids love Halloween, and volunteers from the community and Mary Free Bed made sure 35 current and former patients were able to celebrate in a special way.
The fourth annual Halloween Heroes Parade marched around Mary Free Bed and Mercy Health Saint Mary’s Hospital on Oct. 26, with the Forest Hills Central Marching Band leading the way. The kids’ wheelchairs disappeared into elaborate costumes created just for them.
Included in the parade were:
- Chase Fuller, 8, who dressed up as DJ Marshmello. Staff for the internationally known DJ saw photos from the parade and reached out to Chase.
- Molly Malleis, 4, was a “Jurassic Park” firefighter. She towed her twin brother, who was dressed as a dinosaur.
- Alicia Marewski, 7, had her wheelchair transformed into an ice cream truck.
Volunteers with the Mary Free Bed Guild solicited costume ideas from the kids and worked with volunteers from Owen-Ames-Kimball and Grand Valley State University engineering students to build the costumes throughout the month of October. The kids get to keep their costumes to wear at school and, of course, for trick-or-treating.
Joining the parade were Cosplay Crusaders superheroes and dogs from the West Michigan Therapy Dog Association. Members of the Grand Rapids Police Department, Grand Rapids Fire Department, Life EMS and Kent County Sheriff’s Department showed off their emergency vehicles after the parade.
Take a 360 degree look at part of the parade below:
