Every year when October rolls around, Andreina Sanve begins her yearly ritual of transforming the grounds of her ranch-style home into a dark and spooky haunted house.

And for Sanve, there isn't a more magical time.

"This is like my Disneyland," she giggled.

Sanve is carrying on the tradition set by her mother, who used to decorate for every Halloween. She has been adding to her elaborate Halloween decoration collection for the past 19 years and is far from finished. A walk-through revealed hundreds of spooky items, scary lights and grisly characters. Coffins as well as moving severed body parts are plentiful and out back is the family of inflated insects. The front yard is the scene of a horrendous car accident and faux cemetery.

"I run a daycare," Sanve said. "And the kids help me dig the graves. They love it!"

This year, Sanve's house has been opened up to the Girl Scouts she leads in an effort to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims. As a rule, raising money for other organizations is usually not allowed but this year the Scouts lifted the restriction, putting Sanve and the girls into action.

"We were thinking of doing a fund-raiser at Christmas," Sanve said. "But we thought, why not now?"

The suggested donation is $1 per visit. Sanve said the kickoff weekend was busy and suspected the upcoming weekends would bring even more potential donors. Some visitors had gone above and beyond the suggested amount, some giving $5 or even $20. The girls helped construct different scenes and have donned costumes to act in them, such as Kiersten Terry, 10, and Laren Kizer, 9, who trade off being "chainsaw masters."

The haunted house is located at 936 Carpenter Rd. and is open Friday through Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. for the next two weekends.

(Tim Rios, “Scouts scaring up relief,” Oakley Press, 21 October 2005, Front Page.)