Emma Munson Foundation, Inc

And that’s a wrap!!! Our last costume event was last night! What fun we had with the folks at the Salvation Army Family Center! A lively and sweet group that really were so excited about picking out a costume!! Thank you to our small but mighty volunteer crew who outfitted all the kids in record time!! This has truly been an incredible month for us and our biggest year yet!! We are so very grateful to all of you out there who collected and donated costumes, helped us sort them and volunteered at events. The smiles and kindness shared were just incredible. Stay tuned for a final wrap up of this project. Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween!🎃

Thank you to this great group who volunteered last night and shared love and smiles with the families at the Women and Children’s Shelter of Pittsburgh. For safety reasons we cannot share pictures but trust us…the smiles and connections were beautiful. It’s always an honor to meet these families who are so brave in the midst of crisis and struggle. It really makes you think about your own life and what we take for granted and really puts into perspective some of the silly issues we worry about. This stop always makes an impact on both sides…them and us. We thank you all for your generosity and your help in allowing us to reach these folks who need the support. Tomorrow night is our very last event. If anyone out there wants a little boost of joy we can always use more help. Send a message if you are interested❤️🎃

Costume stop #8 was so much fun!! We spent yesterday afternoon with the dear families of Save A Life Today (SALT) The amazing Ellie Barbour Williams and her awesome crew set up a great event with trick or treating, music and food! The smiles were contagious as we outfitted over 200 kids with costumes so generously donated from all of you! Getting the opportunity to meet so many kind kids and parents is such a gift and we are so grateful to our wonderful volunteers who interact so beautifully with all of them. We have two more events left tonight and Weds. and although this program is time consuming and tiring, my heart is never so full. With all that’s happening in our world sharing love and smiles is truly good for the soul. Thank you to all of you that have donated and volunteered you make all this possible🎃❤️

Whew!!!! What an incredible night we had in Braddock at stop #7 with our friends from For Good PGH The line never seemed to end as we helped over 300 of the sweetest kids find a costume! One after the other these dear families expressed their gratitude and the kids rewarded us with smiles and laughs as we shared the love from so many of you in the form of a Halloween costume. Many of you may feel something as simple as donating a costume doesn’t make a big difference but we are here to tell you it does!! I can’t fully describe the feelings we experience during these events…but to see so many families who in the midst of hard times have a reason to smile together, well…it warms all the hearts!! Thank you to our amazing family and friends who volunteered with us last night and spread the love so beautifully. We have a couple days to reload and get ready for our next event on Sunday. It’s another big one! Thank you everyone for your support and for following along🎃❤️

Event #6 last night with our friends at Light of Life. These moms are working hard to make a good life for their kids and it’s our honor and pleasure to help in a small way. The smiles were contagious as our wonderful volunteers helped these families find just the right costume!! Speaking of volunteers…we are so grateful to everyone who comes out to help. We love that they come from so many different parts of our life. Our family who have been there from day one. Our friends who are always there for support. Including our old High school friends. Our kids former teachers from elementary school. Friends we have made over the years who support other projects we do through the foundation. New friends who find us on social media. We could not do any of this without you and we can’t really express how much you all mean to us so thank you for your help. We will be in Braddock tonight. Stay tuned for more smiles🎃❤️

Event #5 at HEARTH last night. What a great time we had with the sweet kids and parents! There was even a dance party in our truck! As usual our amazing volunteers helped over 30 kids find just the right costume and accessories! It just fills our hearts when a child looks in the mirror and says…”I love it!” Witnessing joy from something as simple as a Halloween costume really is just so sweet. If you’d like to experience this joy firsthand please join us at one of our events!! We can always use more help. Especially this Weds. (tomorrow) in Braddock and Sunday in the West End. These are two of our biggest events where we will be outfitting hundreds of kiddos!! Info in the link or just PM me!! We are halfway through our program five down five to go!! Thanks to everyone for all your generosity and help❤️🎃

What a morning we had at our 4th costume event at SHIM!! With the help of our amazing volunteers we outfitted over 165 kids!! These mostly immigrant families were very grateful and we had so much fun sharing smiles and laughs. If you donated costumes we thank you. Every child smiles because of your generosity and their parents are truly grateful. We are gearing up for our next three events which are back to back this week. If you’d like to join us Wednesday in Braddock it’s a big one and we promise you a fun time. Details in the link! Stay tuned for more joy!!!
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Wow!! What a fun time we had at event #3 in Spring Hill. Every year we meet some of the sweetest families here. The smiles and conversations just completely fill our hearts. To watch a child’s reaction when they step in front of the mirror and see how great they look…there is nothing like it! A huge thank you to all our incredible volunteers who jumped in at the last minute to help!! You were all amazing!! And to everyone who donated costumes…your love is being spread to so many kids who are so grateful. Events like last night remind me why this program is so special. If you have any time in the next two weeks to join us at one or more of our events I highly recommend it. Not because it helps us, but because it will help you!! We will be in Baldwin on Saturday morning for a big event and can always use more hands. Message me for details or check the link to sign up!!🎃❤️
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Last night we spent a cold but lovely evening with some great families in Millvale. The costume donations so many of you generously gave are getting into the hands of kids who need them and it’s great to see! Thanks to our awesome group of volunteers who we couldn’t do this without. We appreciate you🎃❤️

Hi friends!! Help!! We just added another costume giveaway and are trying to round up volunteers. We will be in Spring Hill at Spring Hill Elementary this Thursday from 4:30-6:30. This is a sweet neighborhood with some very nice families like the one pictured!! If you can come help share some love we would be so grateful to have you. If you can’t get there right on time or have to leave early that’s fine too. Any help is appreciated!! If you are available just let me know and I’ll get the address to you! 🎃

Special thanks to Mr. Smalls Theatre for supporting our Halloween Costume drive! Great Venue for a show and a great way to build community!

We'll be in Millvale tomorrow at the Millvale Community Library for our next Halloween Costume Party! More details at www.EMF.be/Halloween

This Tuesday 10/15 in The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls: the return of the MASS Film Club, a free monthly curated series presented by the Mutual Appreciation Screen Society, where we will screen a themed mystery double feature via VHS! For this October edition, expect two scary/spooky/Halloween-adjacent films guaranteed to make your skin crawl. Also in the mix: drink & food specials, themed cocktails, free popcorn and fun movie facts!

Each month we will have suggested donations for different charities, with this edition being new/gently used costumes being donated to the Emma Munson Foundation, Inc to benefit the less fortunate.

18+. Doors at 6:30, screenings begin at 7. FREE registration at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/7rrr38z/lp/e99be36e-f5ff-4226-9a43-8fdffb79a0d8

Last night we kicked off our costume giveaway events at Providence Connections!! We had the best time with these families and the smiles were contagious! Shout out to our great group of volunteers who helped over 70 kids shop for just the right costume! To all who donated thank you so much!! We will continue to collect costumes throughout the month. Especially sizes 10-14 for both boys and girls. We always run low on those! If you’d like to come help at any of our events the sign up is in the link attached. Thank you everyone for joining our efforts to help make life a little easier for struggling families🎃❤️
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What are you doing tomorrow night?! We will be kicking off our Halloween Distribution Program!! Would you like to join us?! If you like to have fun, experience joy and see big smiles on kid’s faces we’d love to have you!! We will be at Providence Connections in Brighton Heights!! The families are lovely and the staff is amazing. We’ve got room for more volunteers and can use all the help we can get!! We will be there from 4:45-7pm. You can sign up at the link below for this and all our other events!! Or feel free to PM me with any questions. Thank you to everyone who has already signed up. It takes many helping hands to pull this off and we are so grateful to you all!🎃❤️

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080F4FACA628A6F58-51135492-halloween #/

A huge thank you to all the amazing volunteers who came out last night for our Big Sort!!! In record time these awesome folks organized over 1,000 costumes and accessories and filled hundreds off treat bags!! Many hands working together with joy and laughter made for a wonderful night. We are so very grateful to everyone who donated costumes and to all our helpers last night. This program grows every year and it would be impossible for us to do this without the help of so many. It truly fills our hearts to see the generosity and the coming together of everyone to help pull this off. We will continue to collect costumes at our home throughout October but now the fun really begins. Our first event is next Weds, October 9th. We have eight other events to follow. If you’d like to join us at one of these joy-filled events we always need help! You can sign up at the website below. Again, thank you thank you everyone for all your generosity and help. We are all in this together❤️🎃
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Big thanks to Dan Burda and Studio Raw Elite for collecting over 250 costumes!! To everyone who donated we can’t thank you enough!!! We could not do this without you!! And to those of you asking…does donating a Halloween costume really make a difference? The answer is YES!!! The average costume costs $25. To a parent who has several kids that’s close to $100! Families who are struggling and living paycheck to paycheck suffer stress trying to figure out how to fit this huge extra expense into the budget. Often times having to get behind on bills or go with less food for the month. As parents we all want our kids to have happy childhood memories. Your donation, as simple as it seems, makes a huge difference not only for the kids but the parents as well. So thank you so so much to all who have donated. You are bringing hope and joy to a family in need❤️🎃
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Many of you may be wondering "why do you need so many Halloween costumes? Where do they go?" We connect with community care organizations throughout Pittsburgh. Places like Providence Connections in Brighton Heights, Hearth in Shaler, For Good Pittsburgh in Braddock, Light of Life Women and Children's program in Northside, Save A Life Today in the West End and we will be in Oakland, Baldwin, East Liberty and Millvale. So there are hundreds of kids looking forward to our events and many families who count on us year after year. This is a group effort and so we are very grateful for all of you who have donated or will donate costumes!!! There is still time to donate. You can drop off costumes at our home, Studio Raw Elite, The Loft for Creative Play, Precious and Posh, Smoke Cigar Shop and just added Doodlebugs in McCandless. Thank you so much to all these business and all of you!! This is only the first step in the process. You'll want to stay tuned for when the real fun begins!! EMF.be/Halloween

Thank you everyone for the sweet messages you shared with us on Emma’s birthday. We had a really amazing day spreading love and thanks. I’ve said it before and will say it again…if you are feeling sad or down go do something for someone else. It’s truly healing❤️ If you’d like to help kids in need we are still collecting costumes. If you’d like to volunteer at one of our nine super joyful events you can sign up in the attached link. There is something about coming together for the greater good that will warm your heart and renew your faith in humanity. Thank you for working with us to help make the world a little kinder❤️🎃
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If Emma were here with us she’d be 30 today! Hard to believe! I wish more than anything we could be celebrating this big birthday together. Since we cannot, to honor this special day we will be out sharing 30 Acts of Kindness and Gratitude. Our list will take us all over the city in an attempt to share as much love and thankfulness as we can! I’m thinking this will bring us joy on an otherwise very melancholy day. I know Emma will be by our side as usual and hope others will feel her essence as well. Happy 30th Angel Girl. You are so deeply loved and missed.

Where can you experience love in action and see pure joy on a child’s face?! At our Halloween events of course!! Volunteers are needed at all our giveaway events. All the info is in the attached link and you can sign up there as well! We promise you a wonderful time as you help kids “shop” for just the right costume! We could not do this without all our amazing volunteers. Won’t you consider sharing a couple hours to join in the fun and spread some love. You will walk away with a happy heart. No experience necessary!! Thank you to everyone who has already signed up we love you!!! Hope to see you there!! PM with any questions.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080F4FACA628A6F58-51135492-halloween #/

Did you know last year we gave away nearly 1,000 costumes to kids all over Pittsburgh? This year our program is growing so we need as many costumes as we can get! Please consider donating a new or gently used costume in sizes infant to adult! We promise your generosity will bring a smile to a child's face in our area. Thank you so much! EMF.be/Halloween

Do you have Halloween costumes but not sure where to drop them off?!! Some incredible and generous friends and business owners throughout our community are here to help. Here's where...

Studio Raw Elite on Babcock Blvd. We couldn’t do this without Dan Burda and staff.

The Loft Creative PlaY Warrendale Road in Gibsonia. Thank you to the wonderful Sandy Mencini and her sister at Kat & Willie Boutique

Precious + Posh at the Village of Pine shopping Center so grateful to the sweet Mary DiMatteo

Smoke Cigar Shop & Lounge Inc
Collier Town Square, Washington Pike
New spot this year! Shout out to owners Casey and Stephanie Bonincontro and thanks to Jimmy!!

Of course you can bring them to our home as well or we will pick up just PM me! We had a great day visiting each of these small businesses and delivering our awesome collection bins painted by the amazing Zac Rutter. As you can see this is a huge group effort. Thank you to everyone who helps us bring joy and smiles to kids in need all over Pittsburgh!
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