Circle K International (CKI) hosted its second annual Haunted House last Friday, Oct. 28 in Thwing Center. Students had the opportunity to get in the mood for Halloween early while aiding CKI’s philanthropic efforts.

This year’s event continued last year’s success. “I [had] wanted to make it bigger and scarier since last year,” said Jill Patel, the president of CKI at Case Western Reserve University. She booked the Thwing Center as early as last spring to achieve her goal. With more rooms to utilize, this year’s Haunted House had many themes. Horror movie fans could find many of their favorite scenes brought to life in the autopsy room, the purge room, the Dexter room or the maze and get chills down their spine from demon possession, zombies and clowns.

Florence Bian, a first-year student at CWRU, said she had a great time in the Haunted House. “I could hear people screaming when I was waiting to go in,” she said, “and I almost screamed the whole way. It was as fun as I can imagine.”

Gloria Huynh, the organization’s treasurer, was satisfied with the turnout of the Haunted House. She said she believes this year’s event was even more successful than last year. She said, “We heard a lot of positive comments about it.”

CKI focuses on helping children around the world. This year’s Haunted House not only raised money for the Eliminate Project, as it did last year, but also helped the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The Eliminate Project is a collaboration between Kiwanis International, CKI’s parent organization, and UNICEF. The project aims to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus, and so far it has reached its fundraising goal of $110 million. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is “a volunteer-powered charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives,” according to its official website.

With the success of last week’s haunted house, CKI demonstrated a continued dedication to its philanthropic goals.