Ten years ago, when Germaine Beyl's son was serving in Iraq, he asked her to serve as a "squad mom," to write the soldiers in his squad letters to boost their spirits. This duty, Beyl said, was usually reserved for military wives, but he wasn't married, and she happily complied.
That year, the family wanted to put together care packages for the squad. She and her husband, Grant, a retired colonel and a Vietnam vet, hosted a chili supper and Halloween party with "spooky little things" on their Farmington farm.
They asked guests for a donation of one nonperishable item; it was a request that met with an "outpouring of support," Beyl said.
The Beyls repeated the Halloween party the next year, when their youngest son was deployed to Iraq, and in the years that followed, the event grew into a haunted house with a haunted trail through the woods. "It just kept getting bigger and bigger," Beyl said.
Fast forward to today's annual "Support Our Troops Haunted House." It's a 23-room haunted house in the 4-H Building at the Dakota County Fairgrounds, 4008 220th St. W. in Farmington. Organizers expect to draw about a thousand visitors Thursday through Saturday.
Over the years, the funds from the haunted houses have allowed the Beyls and their cast of volunteers — about 95 this year — to spend the year doing a wide range of projects.
They still send boxes to soldiers, sometimes indulging them with requests such as a coveted pack of Oreo cookies. "We send out boxes every month," Beyl said.
She said that soldiers often send thank-you letters and that "they talk about how important it is for them to know that people back home are still thinking of them."
