On Saturday, April 4, members of the Linganore High School (LHS) community came together to turn the magic of the Easter Bunny into a reality for families across Frederick County.
Egg My House is an annual event hosted by the Safe and Sane Committee, who host a carnival that takes place at Mount Saint Mary’s University immediately after graduation.
The carnival began in 1987 in response to the drunk driving accidents taking place after graduation by celebrating seniors. The annual carnival keeps the new alums “safe and sane” by providing a fun atmosphere to celebrate their recent accomplishment without the alcohol.
The event can get pretty expensive, as it features a variety of activities, such as karaoke, bingo and a casino, as well as prizes, including a mini fridge, laptop, ipods and more.
In order to offset the cost of the Safe and Sane event, while keeping the ticket prices as low as possible for seniors, the committee hosts numerous events throughout the year to raise money. Egg My House is one such event in which volunteers fill plastic eggs with candy and deliver them to houses for children to find on Easter morning.
The process of planning this year’s Egg My House began in October, when the Safe and Sane committee hosted a meeting for parents to learn about the carnival and the various events held to raise money. LHS parent Jennifer Browne offered to take the lead on organizing the Egg My House fundraiser.
“I agreed to do Egg My House because I was looking forward to one last volunteer opportunity with my daughter,” Browne said.
Browne was in charge of planning and executing the fundraiser, which required her to spend hours upon hours promoting the event, buying eggs and candy and managing the Egg My House official email.
“It was kind of like a second part-time job,” Browne said.
Luckily, the LHS community was willing to help. On Monday, March 31, students were able to earn service hours by assisting in the process of stuffing the eggs with candy after school in Linganore’s cafeteria. This required ensuring each of the 6000 eggs were filled with a piece of chocolate and non-chocolate candy, then sorting these eggs into bags by the dozen.
“I decided to help with the egg filling to fulfill my NHS [National Honor Society] hours and to help out my community, since I’ve been helping with Egg My House since sophomore year,” said LHS senior Brianna Dacanay.
Disaster almost struck the day prior to the egg filling, when Browne came to the realization that she was missing about 6000 pieces of candy.
“In the moment, there was absolute panic,” Browne said. “I knew that I needed 12,000 pieces of candy, and for some reason, I thought I had them. Then, when counting them the day [before the candy stuffing], I realized that I only had half that amount.”
However, Amazon Prime proved to be Browne’s savior when they delivered the 6000 pieces of candy overnight, ensuring they arrived by 4:00 in the morning.
Once the eggs were stuffed with candy, it was time for the LHS community to play the role of the Easter Bunny.
The day before Easter, Browne and her family set up shop in the upper lot at Linganore so they could distribute the eggs to volunteers. It was the volunteers’ job to go to the various houses that had purchased the eggs and hide them for the children to find the following morning.
“I decided to hide eggs because I wanted to give back to the community,” said LHS senior Lily Wright, who was one of the various volunteers who distributed the eggs. “It took about 15 to 30 minutes [to hide the eggs] at each house.”
Even after the eggs were out of Browne’s hands, her job was not yet over. Browne was required to stay up until she could ensure each family received their eggs. After staying up late into the night and receiving a couple of calls from families who had not yet received their eggs, Browne was able to finally rest as the fundraiser came to an end.
Nearly 6000 eggs later, the Safe and Sane committee was able to raise $13,000 towards the annual carnival. According to people who supported the fundraiser, they will be looking forward to the event again next year.
“Watching my two boys realize the Easter Bunny had come was pure magic,” said Laura Donegan, whose children woke up to the surprise of an egg-filled yard. “It made Easter morning feel extra special, and it’s definitely something we’d love to do again.”
