OLATHE, Kansas — A Midwest nonprofit is providing children with elaborate Halloween costumes at no cost. Walkin' & Rollin' Costumes, based in Kansas City, builds costumes for children who use mobility aids and ships them to families across the country.
While the nonprofit started in 2015, the story dates back to 2005 when Lon and Anita Davis's son Reese was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. The tumor affected Reese's spine and left him without the full functionality of his legs.
Lon started to build costumes for their son that incorporated Reese's wheelchair, this being the catalyst for the nonprofit's current work.
Using financial donations from Kickstarter, PayPal and GoFundMe, along with the help of over 100 volunteers across the country, the nonprofit has been able to provide kids all over the United States with inclusive Halloween costumes at no cost. That said, the nonprofit will also build costumes year-round for comic cons, parades and birthdays.
Each costume costs around $250 for materials and takes around 120 hours to build. A photo gallery of previous costumes can be found on the nonprofit's website.
“As a parent of a special needs child, I know how difficult it is at Halloween to find costumes that fit, or are comfortable for a child in a wheelchair," Lon said in an information sheet about the nonprofit. "There aren’t any websites that sell them either, so we have always made them ourselves. Reese loved the attention he got from his classmates and for the first time was thought of as just another kid. His self esteem skyrocketed. We decided to share that experience with other families in similar situations and the response and feedback has been both amazing and humbling.”
More information on how to request a costume or become a volunteer can be found here.
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