Excelius t1_it84eql wrote on October 21, 2022 at 4:55 PM

Maybe volunteer for a local Trunk or Treat Event?

I honestly only have passing familiarity with these things, I assume it's more for places where you might not want kids going door to door?

Might be a bit late in the game to get involved for this year though. Especially since this sort of volunteering might be regulated under the state's background check process to volunteer with kids. That law was part of the fallout from the Sandusky thing.

SunfishStudio OP t1_it8hkwt wrote on October 21, 2022 at 6:22 PM

I'll look into it, thanks! At the very least I'll do my annual halloween themed donations to the closest animal shelter, I like giving them little cloth pumpkin hides and blankets with ghosts on the, stuff like that so I'm happy to cozy up at home with a scary movie if I'm a bit late to the party.

And totally understandable on needing a background check, but I've not heard of Sandusky, you mean the town? I'm new to the area (got here 3 months back) so I don't know much about any history

Excelius t1_it8jjj4 wrote on October 21, 2022 at 6:35 PM

> And totally understandable on needing a background check, but I've not heard of Sandusky, you mean the town? I'm new to the area (got here 3 months back) so I don't know much about any history

It was referring to a particularly nasty incident, so I kept my comment kind of vague assuming most people would know the reference.

The law was in response to the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal about a decade ago. Jerry Sandusky was an assistant coach for the football program at Penn State and was caught molesting children, and the botched response by the university to the discovery was a huge thing.

SunfishStudio OP t1_it8z7bn wrote on October 21, 2022 at 8:21 PM

Oh that's awful, I can't believe I've never heard of this before. And christ, over 15 years too.

StoshBalls_3636 t1_it9ea0v wrote on October 21, 2022 at 10:07 PM

FYI - I had to get a background check to volunteer at an event at a local Catholic Church. I spoke to someone at the state and explained the sooner they could do the check, the better since I could not do anything until I was cleared by them and they very nicely obliged within 24 hours. If you ask nicely, maybe they will work with you to speed things along.