Florida architects, artists custom-build adaptive Halloween costumes for children with special needs
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In middle school, Brandon Pourch decided to make his own Halloween costume for a change and transformed himself into Lt. Worf from the "Star Trek" universe, complete with an elaborate face mold to look like a proper Klingon.
It was well-received, though he admits this harsh truth: "It wasn't, like, the coolest costume. A little nerdy."
Still, he kept that Halloween tradition going into young adulthood (a GEICO caveman and Superman-nemesis General Zod were among other creations.)
Now 40, he's still making Halloween costumes — though now for other people. He helps organize an annual effort to provide costumes for children with special needs, enlisting a big crew of volunteers to make elaborate creations that transform the wheelchairs the children use into something special.
Pourch is an architect at RS&H, an architectural, engineering and consulting firm. Five costumes built by volunteers — among them artists, architects, contractors and interior designers — were unveiled Friday afternoon at the company's Deerwood Park headquarters in Jacksonville.
They were built on frameworks of PVC pipes that fit over the wheelchairs, out of insulation foam and other decorations, some with lights and even sound systems.
Ayanna Walker, 11, is a big fan of "The Princess and the Frog," which she has watched countless times. So volunteers made her a recreation of the New Orleans steamboat that figures in the movie, complete with a big umbrella and twin smokestacks that spew dry-ice smoke. It even plays music from the movie.
"This will definitely be a princess float," artist Traci Kovach told her before the unveiling. "In fact, I'm going to go finish princess-ifying it up."
Ayanna's mother, Brittany Cunningham, said the kindness of the volunteers means a lot to her. "We can't just go into a regular store and buy a costume. Being able to have something that she really likes — this will definitely be something she'll remember her whole life."
To find the children who might want the costumes, the Center for Independent Living, a nonprofit that works with people with disabilities, posted on a Facebook page for mothers of special-needs kids.
Isaac Tennis, 3, was presented with a big costume of a Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft, just like the one his father flies in, and wore a flight suit like his father's.
Michael Tennis, a first-class petty officer based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, was deployed with the Seventh Fleet for six months, having left just after the birth of his youngest son Adrian. He flew in from Okinawa, Japan, last week.
He marveled at the skill volunteers used to put together the costume. "The detail!" he said. "Thank you so much for the hard work. This is amazing."
Meanwhile, Ben Kuhn, 5, wore a red Kraken costume and sat in splendor inside a black pirate ship from "The Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. On Halloween, his mother Amanda said, he'll be accompanied by his two brothers as pirates and his sister as a mermaid.
Evelyn "Evie" Morris, 11, transformed into Val Little, one of the characters from the series "Monsters at Work," a spinoff of the movie "Monsters, Inc." Her costume was a yellow utility cart like the kind Val gets around in.
"Nothing I said dissuaded her. She wanted 'Monsters, Inc.," said her mother, Candice Samples-Morris.
Of course, her mother knows what this means: On Halloween she will have to accompany her daughter while wearing a costume that makes her look like the monster named Sully.
"The big blue and purple guy," she explained.