Written by
Oct 4, 2022 8:08:00 AM
Williams Landing resident Natalie Mitchell is the woman behind the community’s “Halloween House” which features Anna Skeleton and her spooky family in a series of displays counting down to Halloween.
What originally began as a way to bring some joy to the Williams Landing community during 2021’s lockdowns rapidly evolved into a community fundraising event, raising over $8,000 for the Good Friday Appeal in 2021.
This year, Natalie is raising funds for the Wyndham Health Foundation to help purchase a much-needed automated CPR machine for Werribee Mercy Hospital – the first of its kind in the West.
Cedar Woods is a proud supporter of Anna Skeleton, funding the purchase of trick or treat candy in 2021 and donating Williams Landing Shopping Centre gift vouchers as raffles prizes this year.
We sat down with Natalie to learn more about the Anna Skeleton story, what she brings to the Williams Landing community, and how to contribute to her fundraising efforts.
What is Anna Skeleton’s origin story?
We’ve always had a passion for Halloween, and after seeing Anna in a Costco in 2019 we thought what better way to live the Halloween life everyday than to add a skeleton to our family! We started by just sharing photos of her online with family and friends, and her daily adventures quickly becoming known as ‘Anna’s Antics’.
Introducing Anna to the outside world was a natural progression brought about by the lockdowns in 2021. We started creating daily displays in our front yard to share some of our Halloween joy - involving costumes, props, music, and photo opportunities for the community to enjoy - and it really snowballed from there. Anna now has over 1,000 followers on Facebook and we love what we’ve been able to achieve from our humble home with a simple skeleton and a few spider webs.
You did 75 daily displays in 2021, how did you come up with all these ideas? What kept you going and motivated?
This was a group effort, between my husband, children, and suggestions from family and friends, each day rolled into the next smoothly. We utilised items that we already had, bargains found online, and props collected from over the years to create different situations, such as the Skeletons playing totem tennis or doing some routine car maintenance.
Knowing the community loved it and looked forward to Anna’s daily update was the motivation to keep it going for so long and to continue this year.
You raised over $8,000 for the Good Friday Appeal last year. Could you tell us how these funds were raised?
We started with a humble target of $500 but once we surpassed that the sky was the limit! Donations came in mostly online via links and QR Codes, but we also received cash donations on the night of Halloween.
We also sold raffle tickets and cookies to raise some additional funds and after receiving a $2,000 donation from Ace Real Estate Point Cook/Laverton the rest was history. The community rallied together and raised the additional $6,000 to bring us to a grand total of $8,169.78!
Why did you select the Wyndham Health Foundation as this year’s charity and what is your fundraising goal? Do you have plans to hold more fundraising events?
Wyndham is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Australia and we want to be part of supporting the health and well-being of its residents.
Our goal for 2022 is $10,000, which is one third of the funds required to purchase a lifesaving automated CPR device that is very much needed by Werribee Mercy Hospital.
It will be the first machine of its kind in the West and we’d like to make as big of an impact on the required funds as possible - if we could get even closer to the halfway mark and raise $15,000 that would be amazing!
We would love to register as a charity and trademark our concept which will hopefully allow us more reach for other fund-raising opportunities.
What has been the most surprising thing about this experience? Can you share any standout memories or stories?
How much people really love Halloween! It’s great that people are seeing it as an opportunity to engage with their community, have some fun, and dress up in really cool and creative costumes.
The residents love Anna and her family, they even love the antics of her pet spider Stanley! We’ve had letters and messages thanking us for doing what we do, morale was low during the lockdowns and people were telling us that seeing what the Skeleton family were up to was the highlight of their day. This really makes the early mornings and late nights worth it.
