Northport family’s Halloween bake sale marks 22 years of giving back
The Perles family’s annual Halloween bake sale returns for its 22nd year on Saturday, October 31 in East Northport. The fundraiser has raised more than $30,000 for the Northport Food Pantry since its inception in 2005.
For more than two decades, Halloween has meant more than costumes and candy for the Perles family. It’s also a time to bake, bring neighbors together and raise money for local families who need a little help putting food on the table.
The family’s annual Halloween bake sale returns for its 22nd year on Saturday, October 31, with homemade treats for sale at 39 Kalmia Street in East Northport. All proceeds benefit the Northport Food Pantry, and the fundraiser has raised more than $30,000 since its inception. Halle Brenner and her husband Greg Perles organize the sale with help from their three daughters, family friends and a growing circle of neighbors who have made it a Halloween tradition.
The fundraiser began in 2005 with an idea from the family’s oldest daughter, Dylan, who was seven at the time. After performing in productions of Annie and Oliver, she started asking her parents about the real-life circumstances behind the stories she saw onstage. Halle said she and Greg had always tried to raise their daughters to think about other people and the circumstances they might be facing. Those conversations helped inspire Dylan to find a way to help.
“She got really thoughtful and said, ‘I want to have a lemonade stand so I could raise money to help people who don’t have enough food to eat,’” Halle recounted.
The family initially planned a small lemonade stand, but Dylan soon had another idea: Why not hold it on Halloween, when families already flock to the neighborhood’s several adjoining courts to trick-or-treat?
That first year, the family baked cupcakes, cookies and brownies and set up a small table. They hadn’t advertised the sale, and many trick-or-treaters didn’t have cash on hand. Still, the girls raised $100, which they proudly brought to the Northport Food Pantry.
Halle said the family was especially glad to learn that the pantry uses donations not only to fill gaps on its shelves but also to provide supermarket gift cards to families. The cards allow people to choose the groceries that work best for their households.
The girls wanted to do the bake sale again the following year, so they began spreading the word. They made flyers, put up posters around the neighborhood and asked Northport Village shop owners to display them, too. Friends and classmates joined in, and what began as a small table of treats grew into an annual community fundraiser.
Now, 22 years later, they’re still at it.
Halle and Greg’s three daughters – Dylan, Zoe and Kyra – are now adults in their 20s, but they still come home from college and work to help with the annual bake sale. Family friends, relatives and longtime supporters pitch in, too.
As the sale grew, so did the number of young volunteers. Halle recalled one year when the girls were in elementary, middle and high school. The high schoolers worked on the deck, the elementary schoolers took over the kitchen and the middle schoolers spread out around a table in the living room.
“It was utter chaos, but a beautiful chaos,” she said.
Many of the children returned each Halloween and developed their own specialties. One of her daughters’ friends made pumpkin Rice Krispies treats for years, taking over a task Halle was happy to hand off.
Most of the baked goods are made at home, with local businesses Copenhagen Bakery and Dunkin’ Donuts in Northport also donating items each year.
The offerings include mini loaves and breads, brownies, pies, cakes, cupcakes, muffins and cookies, with gluten-free and dairy-free options available.
Over the years, the sale has become a Halloween tradition for many families in the neighborhood and beyond. Halle recalled a longtime neighbor who began bringing homemade cranberry sauce to sell after telling the family that she had attended the sale with her own children for years. Now a grandmother, she wanted to bring her grandchild into the mix as well.
Moments like that have helped make the fundraiser about more than the money raised.
Halle, a former teacher, said one of her hopes has always been that the children who participate learn that they can turn an idea into something that helps others. Even a small contribution matters, she said, and everyone has something to give.
“We’re all part of a community, whether that’s the town we live in or a global community,” she said. “Empathy and caring is really important. And not only feeling badly about a situation, but thinking about what you can do because we can all do something to help, and we all should.”
The family has continued the sale through difficult years, including Hurricane Sandy and the COVID-19 pandemic, when food assistance was especially important to many families. In 2020, they took advance orders and arranged curbside pickups to keep the fundraiser going safely.
Last year, the bake sale raised $3,600. The family hopes to top that amount this year, but Halle said the goal is always to do what they can and see how the community responds.
For the Perles family, the hope is that the tradition continues to remind people that helping others doesn’t have to start with something big. Sometimes, it starts with a child’s idea, a kitchen full of baked goods and a neighborhood willing to show up.
The 22nd annual Halloween Bake Sale begins at 11am on Saturday, October 31, at 39 Kalmia Street in East Northport and will continue until supplies run out. Payments are accepted through Venmo at @Greg-Perles, in cash or by check made payable to Northport Food Pantry. Those who can’t stop by in person can still donate to support the cause. Questions can be emailed to bakesale39@gmail.com.
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