Halloween at the Yagielniskie house is a chance for the family to show off their love for the holiday.
And it’s a chance for them to give back to the community that gave to them when they needed it most.
In 2010, Paul Yagielniskie was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash on The Grade. The medical expenses and loss of an income in the house set the family back a bit and they had to rely on donations to the Frackville Food Bank.
To give back, his daughter, Ashley Sabol, and the rest of the family turned their tradition of decorating the outside of the family home on W. Washington St. in Frackville into Scare Away Hunger.
Every year, hundreds of people come to see latest decorations, get a bit of a fright, and donate some items that will be given to the Food Bank in town.
“It’s always had a special place in our heart,” Sabol said of the Food Bank on Thursday, as family members were putting the finishing touches on this year’s Halloween display. “It was there when we needed it.”
In 2022, the family took in a record 1,500 items. Most came from donations made on trick-or-treat night in Frackville. But other donations came from friends and co-workers of the family.
They’re hoping to break that record this year, in what will be the final year for Scare Away Hunger.
Sabol believes the yearly tradition has run its course. And she wants to start taking her 2-year-old daughter Avery trick-or-treating.
Hours of Work
Putting up a display like the Yagielniskies do on Halloween is no small feat. The work begins a couple weeks prior to the holiday, mostly with putting together some extra special treats for the first kids to visit the haunted display that bring an item to donate.
Halloween-themed cups filled with candy and other fun stuff are prepped. Plastic gloves are stuffed with candy and tied off to look like hands.
There’s also the work of getting all the decorations out of storage and set up outside the home. Numerous animatronics, join cobwebs, spiders, and much more. Some neighbors even give up a little bit of their front yard area to make room for the display.
Sabol’s brother, Scott Yagielniskie, dresses up every year as a popular Halloween character and puts a special fright into guests.
The work goes on right up until the first Halloweeners come to the house at about 6.
“We’ve definitely upgraded over the years,” Sabol says.
All that work is worth it, according to Sabol’s aunt, Joanie Holleran.
“It’s a lot of fun and it’s for a good cause,” she says.
(Featured photo caption: The Yagielniskie family poses outside their haunted house on W. Washington St. in Frackville on Halloween. Front Row: Ashley Sabol and daughter, Avery, Scott Yagielniskie; Second Row: Trish and Paul Yagielniskie; Back Row: Tyler Ebert, Joanie Holleran)
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