While serving as a police officer in a low income area, I spoke with children after Halloween that did not participate in Trick-or-Treating as they did not have costumes. Growing up the same, using my larger than life imagination, I created my childhood costumes with upcycled household items. The imagination that Halloween inspires has molded me into a womb-to-tomb fan of all things strange and u
nusual. I then had the idea to start Iron Raven, a non-profit with the goal of encouraging childhood creativity by expression through make-believe. My husband, Eran, whom I met while I was in the Navy, quickly joined the spirit. On Halloween we attracted visitors from as far as three counties over to see our displays! The day came when Iron Raven needed to expand to realize the dream of an affordable fall festival, the heart of which would be a haunted hayride and pumpkin patch. So I made the hard decision to leave the city I served to move further north into Florida for more land. As our personal funds support Iron Raven, I planned to continue local law enforcement near our new home. Fate intervened and the month we closed on our five-acre dream home, complete with the warehouse needed to store materials and costumes, I was struck by a semi-truck leaving me with lasting injuries. Unable to return to police work, I now use my imagination to create one-of-a-kind items to sell and remain determined to achieve our goal of providing families with spook-tacular memories!
