Editor’s note: This is a continuation of the story from the CNN podcast 5 Good Things. For more uplifting stories like this, listen wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Saturday.
Jeff Robertson didn’t take Halloween decorations seriously until 2020, when he wanted to make kids smile during the pandemic.
Every year since then, his garden in Holly Springs, North Carolina, and hundreds of others across the country, are filled with plastic skeletons of all sizes for a haunting but heartwarming cause, raising more than $1 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The first year the windows were boarded up, the theme of the exhibit was a house being attacked by what Robertson called a “skeleton army” climbing the walls.
When a local news crew picked it up, the 54-year-old father of two and Air Force veteran saw an opportunity to do more than entertain.
“I asked the kids how they could use that attention to help others,” he told CNN. “My son and daughter said, “Hey, let’s help out at St. Jude. We want to help sick kids get out of the hospital and we want everyone to see these beautiful Halloween decorations.”
So the family printed a simple sign in their front yard that read: Some of its contents are as follows: St. Jude is a leading children’s hospital for children with cancer and other illnesses.
Within days, Robertson said, a car pulled up with an emotional couple and their young daughter in the back seat. The father tearfully told Robertson that they were part of the St. Jude family and wanted to thank him for raising money to help pay for a family like his.
Robertson never knew their names and never saw them again. However, that encounter changed everything for him.
“I was looking for purpose after I retired,” he said. “This little girl was going through a really tough time and finding this goofy plastic skeleton in my garden put her in a great place.”
The family raised more than $8,000 in 2020. The next year, Robertson created a Facebook group called “Skeletons for St. Jude” to spread the idea across the country.
This spooky season, the group has more than 5,000 members and more than 1,000 partner homes across the country are joining the movement and raising money. On October 21st, they officially reached the $1 million mark.
Robertson’s North Carolina neighborhood looks forward to his grand display each year, with many visitors stopping by every day of the month to soak in the sight of the skeleton.
Robertson takes a full year to plan the theme and create new props. He has collected and stored about 100 toy skeletons and will be adding to the exhibit every day leading up to Halloween, so there’s always something new for visitors to see.
In October, Robertson set up a 25-foot-tall phantom pirate ship that appeared to have broken through the first and second floors of his home, with a skeleton sailing aboard.
“The focus isn’t really on me,” Robertson said. “Thousands of people donated $5 or $10 here and there. That’s what made this project a success.”
Robertson is grateful to know that this money will help her family focus on their children’s development. And he says these families are what motivates him to raise an additional $1 million in half time.
