For the fifth year in a row Seton Hill’s Make-A-Wish Club welcomed local children and their families to a Night on Haunted Hill, including a haunted house, carnival, and hayrides. This year’s “Wizard of Oz” themed event attracted over 500 attendees and raised $1900 for Make-A-Wish.

Forty student members of Seton Hill’s Make-A-Wish Club, with the help of advisor Kathy Fajt and ARAMARK/SHU Food Services director Darren Achtzehn (and many staff volunteers), worked hard to make Night on Haunted Hill 5 a success.

“The biggest challenge this year was Mother Nature,” says club advisor Fajt. “The event was scheduled to be outside in a tent... the tent was put up on Tuesday, and Friday morning was flattened by the wind and rain.” The group had to move the event indoors in a matter of hours. (The haunted house found a home in the former bookstore location in Sullivan Hall and the carnival took place in the room next to the Griffin’s Cove.) Luckily, Mother Nature relaxed enough to allow food stands and bon fires to be located on the McKenna Center lawn each evening.

This year, the club had the honor of hosting 12 Make-A-Wish guests and their families. In addition, two former SHU Make-A-Wish Club members brought groups of students from the institutions where they are now employed. “One group was hearing impaired,” says Fajt, “ and they really, really enjoyed the event.”

Seton Hill’s Make-A-Wish Club presented a check to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on November 14 in the amount of $3400 – enough to grant a complete wish to a child with a life-threatening medical condition. The Club raised the $3400 with a variety of fundraisers over two semesters. Seton Hill is the only university in Westmoreland County to grant a full wish.

“This is a very special group of students that I am honored and privileged to work with," says Fajt. "They are team players and give unselfishly of themselves to benefit a child with an illness."

Night on Haunted Hill photos by Seton Hill student and OPI intern Michael Diezmos