This veteran’s Halloween spirit gave him a new purpose. The result? $1 million for kids suffering with cancer
By Krista Bo Polanco, CNN
(CNN) — Jeff Robertson didn’t take Halloween decorations seriously until 2020, when he wanted to make his kids smile during the pandemic.
Every year since, his yard in Holly Springs, North Carolina — and hundreds more across the country –— has been full of plastic skeletons of all sizes for a haunting but heartwarming cause, raising more than $1 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
That first year, with his windows boarded up, the display’s theme was a house under attack by what Robertson called a “skeleton army” scaling the walls.
When a local news crew covered it, the 54-year-old father of two and Air Force veteran saw a chance to do more than entertain.
“I asked my kids how we could use that attention to help others,” he told CNN. “My son and daughter said, ‘Hey, let’s help St. Jude. We want to help sick children get out of the hospital so they can see all these neat Halloween decorations.’”
So the family printed a simple sign on their front yard that said in part: If you like what you see, feel free to donate to St. Jude – a leading children’s hospital for kids with cancer and other diseases.
Within days, Robertson said a car pulled up with an emotional couple and their young daughter in the backseat. The tearful father told Robertson that they’re a St. Jude family and wanted to thank him for raising money for pay for treatment for families like them.
Robertson didn’t get their names and they never saw each other again. But that encounter changed everything for him.
“I’d been looking for purpose after retiring from the service,” he said. “This little girl was going through such a tough time, but she saw these goofy plastic skeletons in my yard, it put her in an awesome place.”
The family raised over $8,000 in 2020 – and the next year, Robertson created a Facebook group called Skeletons for St. Jude to spread the idea nationwide.
This spooky season, the group has more than 5,000 members, and over 1,000 partner homes across the country have joined the cause and raised funds. On October 21, they officially hit the $1 million mark.
Robertson’s neighborhood in North Carolina looks forward to his epic display every year with scores of visitors stopping by every day all month long to soak in the skeleton spectacle.
It takes Robertson a whole year to plan the theme and build new props. He’s accumulated 100 or so toy skeletons that he keeps in storage, and he adds onto the display every day until Halloween — so there’s always something new for visitors to see.
This October, skeletons are sailing on a 25-foot phantom pirate ship that Robertson has positioned so it appears to have crashed through the first and second stories of his house.
“The real focus isn’t on me,” Robertson said. “It’s on the thousands of people giving five or ten dollars here and there. That’s what made this a success.”
Robertson is grateful knowing this money will help families focus on getting their kids better. And he says those families are motivating him to raise another $1 million in half the time.
The-CNN-Wire
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