Ella-ween raises funds, awareness in young organ donor’s memory

The impact of two-year-old Ella Crossett shone through at the first Halloween-themed, organ-donation awareness and fundraiser event in her memory.

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“I really wish she was here for it,” said her mom, Kristin Luckins. “She would have loved it.”

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Crossett’s organs were donated after she died suddenly in 2022, helping save at least two livesincluding a boy who hugged Luckins at the the inaugural Ella-ween at Rosedale elementary school Oct. 21.

The event coincided with what would have been Crossett’s fourth birthday, an occasion affectionately nicknamed Ella-ween by her family because of her love for Halloween, Luckins said.

“Instead of planning a birthday party, I’m planning this, but it’s kind of like a party for her,” said Luckins, who joined the Sarnia Organ Donation Awareness (SODA) board this year.

The event offered about 500 donated new and gently used Halloween costumes for $10 each, along with makeup and decor, to make Halloween more affordable for people and raise money for SODA, Luckins said.

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Hopes are those costumes and others will be donated back in the years to come, she said.

A handful of vendors offered clothing, decorations, face painting and photo booths, with many donating part of their proceeds toward grievance packages via SODA for organ-donor families, Luckins said. The kits cost between $200 and $500 to assemble.

The new SODA initiative offers grieving families kits containing gas and grocery gift cards and other items, she said. They hoped to raise a few thousand dollars at the event and get kits out to funeral homes in the near future.

Similar gestures were helpful as she mourned Crossett’s loss, Luckins said. “So I just wanted to give that back,” she said, noting it acknowledges the decision to donate a loved one’s organs can be difficult in the moment.

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“You only have such a short time,” she said.

SODA’s Elizabeth White said it was important to raise awareness of organ donation.

“Because until organ transplantation and donation affects you, you honestly have no idea,” said White, whose daughter is a liver transplant recipient.

Before that, transplants seemed like something that happened to other people, she said. “Now my life revolves around that. It gives you a brand new perspective.”

Luckins was overwhelmed by the help of volunteers, family and friends in getting the event together, she said. “I am kind of speechless today because everyone has really pulled together.”

To donate costumes, contact Luckins via Sarnia Scare Grams on Facebook or email [email protected].

“I just want something that people will never forget (Ella) and that every year she won’t just disappear,” Luckins said of Ella-ween.

“People will know who she is, what she did, and I still can plan a party every year for her.”

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