Perles Family's Northport Halloween Bake Sale Tradition Continues

NORTHPORT, NY — Halloween is a time for dressing up as your favorite people or characters, trick-or-treating, and munching candy. For the Perles family, it's an opportunity to give back.

Ever since 2005, the family has held a Halloween bake sale from its East Northport home and donated all proceeds to the Northport Food Pantry. That won't change this year, as there will be a plethora of baked treats available. Here's the info:

• Where: 39 Kalmia St., East Northport (near Pine Drive)
• When: Oct. 31 (Halloween) from 3 p.m. until trick-or-treaters stop showing up

The family will be selling pumpkin breads with different fillings, apple cakes, chocolate chip loaves, chocolate chip cookies, Halloween-themed cookies painted elaborately like Frankenstein, pumpkins and ghosts, Frankenstein-themed Rice Krispie treats, banana breads, pumpkin pies, regular brownies, brownies in the shape of Halloween figures and cupcakes. Additionally, there will be a make-your-own cupcake table; $2 allows you to decorate a cupcake.

Halle Brenner Perles, Greg Perles and their three daughters, Dylan, 21, Zoe, 19 and Kyra, 14, all pitch in, whether it's baking, creating flyers or spreading word of mouth by going door-to-door. The family has gotten help from the girls' friends and other student volunteers, as well as local businesses. Copenhagen Bakery donates pies and breads, Dunkin' Donuts often donates donuts, and several supermarkets provide supplies. Naturally, Perles is "very proud" of her daughters.

"There’s a lot of causes young people have taken on in our country," she told Patch. "I think it’s fantastic. We’ve tried to raise our kids from the time they were very little that people belong to a larger community, and we also have responsibilities to each other. We tried to instill that in them when they were little, or they were just born that way."

The bake sale was the brainchild of Dylan, who was 7 at the time. She consulted Zoe, then 5, with her idea. The two sisters brainstormed (Kyra was only 5 months old) before consulting their parents, who were happy to help the girls make their vision a reality.

What started as a modest bake sale has transformed into an annual community event that has raised over $14,000 for the Northport Food Pantry to date.

"Our Halloween fundraiser has been such a vital part of my life for the past 15 years," Zoe said. "I'm so grateful for all the ways it has brought community members together to help people. Every year, I'm inspired and moved by all the people who show up to contribute or donate."

The idea to donate to Northport Food Pantry is rooted in the fact Dylan performed in the Northport Community Theater’s production of "Oliver" when she was 4. With the injustice of poverty being a core theme of the play, the family was eventually pointed in the direction of the pantry.

"One of the things we really liked about the place is that in addition to supplying food of course, it makes sure people have choices," Halle said.

Dylan, who goes away for school, is taking three days off from college in order to head home for the bake sale.

"It is so important to me to be there," she said. "When I started this event when I was 7, I just wanted to raise money to help people who needed a hand. I had no way of knowing that 15 years later, it would have grown into a neighborhood tradition; a big community event with so many people coming together to help make a difference."

Halle recalls Halloween projects that Kyra participated in back in elementary school, where most children said getting candy was their favorite part of the holiday. Halle said Kyra wrote about helping to get the bake sale set up. Kyra echoed her mother's sentiments.

"I've always thought it's important to stand up for the values that I believe in," she said. "Running this fundraiser for the Northport Food pantry every year is a part of that. My family started it the year I was born, so helping people is a big part of what Halloween has always been about for me. I think if you care about the world and want to make it better, it's important to take action to make sure that happens."

You can get a tasty treat and help support the Northport Food Pantry in the process by heading over to the Perles home this Halloween, just as in years past.