Parker (far left), Ann-Marie (middle), Payton (left center), and Mike (far right)
Donor Spotlight: The Fullmore Family
Theatrical spirit brings people together for Halloween to help children
The Fullmore's home lit up for the 3 day Halloween Haunt event.
As a musical theatre person, Walnut Creek resident Ann-Marie Fullmore loves going big for the holidays. She puts up grandiose Halloween decorations that get more elaborate every year. It’s become a family tradition for her and her husband, Mike, and their two children, Parker and Payton.
“The kids were maybe three and five when they started getting involved,” says Ann-Marie. “They were like, ‘Mom, can make a cemetery in the front yard and jump out at people when they come trick or treating?’ And I said, ‘That’s a beautiful idea, let’s do it!’”
Though the children were Ann-Marie’s first scare actors, their décor didn’t transform into a full-fledged community haunted house until October 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the family wanted their neighbors to be able to get candy in a safe way. So, they created a tableau in their house where each room was a different scary scene such as a ghostly woman crawling out of a portrait and skeleton popping out of a window, and trick or treaters could walk along the wrap-around porch and witness the horrors.
The family decided to give people the option of contributing the following year—not to cover the expenses of their fun hobby but instead to benefit a local charity partner. Make-A-Wish came to mind because of Parker and Payton’s friends who had wishes granted. “Make-A-Wish was the right choice, this seemed more personal, it was calling to us as the right move to make…partnering for a cause,” Ann-Marie says. “There’s the idea of ‘think global, act local,’ and I’m helping Make-A-Wish grant wishes to kids right here in the Bay Area. That’s acting locally.”
The family relied on word of mouth and the Nextdoor app to promote the first event but, when the 2021 event became a fundraiser, Ann-Marie wanted to go bigger. She pitched the haunt to a local magazine, Northgate Living, to generate more attendance. And it worked! “People had the magazine in their hands at the haunted house—it was pretty funny,” Ann-Marie says.
The family also went bigger with the haunted house itself and made it a walkthrough. “We really upped our game,” explains Ann-Marie. “You’d come in through our side yard, then traverse our garage. And to make our garage bigger, we bought an extended ‘easy up,’ like twenty feet by ten feet.”
One of the scary attractions in one of the rooms visitors walked through.
They recruited their acting friends, who were happy to help, and also asked Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area if they could provide some volunteers to help as actors and to process donations. All in all, 15 scare actors filled the space, and the family extended the event for three nights over Halloween weekend. Ann-Marie posted on her “buy nothing” group to ask for donations of candy, masks, and décor items. The nearby Shadelands Ranch Historical Museum donated too and promoted the event for free.
Make-A-Wish volunteer Erica Williamson, who helped collect donations, was impressed by the attention to detail the family brought to the experience. “It was so interactive. And really scary,” she says. “They had a little flashlight that they gave to kids who didn’t want to have things jumping out at them. They really paid attention to the difference between teenagers going through and little kids.”
With their meticulous planning and bringing in so many community members to help in different ways, it’s no wonder the event was a big success! “We were open for three hours a night and it was a nonstop line, and we were letting groups in about every ninety seconds,” says Ann-Marie, who estimates that about a thousand people enjoyed the haunt over the three nights.
She wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of donations but was gratified to find that—by the end of the three nights—they had raised over $5,300, enough to help grant the wish of a local child with a critical illness.
Parker inside of fake coffin in the Fullmore's spooky haunted graveyard.
“All the people that showed up and not one person even hesitated to put money in the jar or give me their credit card,” says volunteer Erica. “You really got to see the best side of people who just want to do good for others. That’s one of my favorite things about Make-A-Wish events—being surrounded by people who like to make a difference in the world. It’s just such a nice thing to be a part of. I was so impressed that Ann-Marie and her whole family came together to spend their time and resources and did this just for Make-A-Wish.”
Ann-Marie found that so many people had really great things to say about Make-A-Wish and she even learned about a few people who had family members who were granted wishes that she didn’t know about before.
She says, “Everybody was just so positive. It was nonstop positivity. You never know people’s stories, but everybody can relate to wanting to help children, especially.”