Who you gonna call?
Local Ghostbusters chapter assists youth, charity groups
Nostalgia reigns supreme. If you need some help in your neighbourhood, who ya gonna call? Lethbridge Ghostbusters!
Devin Petrak, along with his family and fellow volunteer spirit catchers, offer southern Albertans a little piece of nostalgia, diversity and inclusion, and help local charities — because helpin’ makes them feel good.
“I created Lethbridge Ghostbusters as a hobby to start off with, which is something my family and I were into and I’ve been a Ghostbuster since my childhood,” said Petrak, founder of the Lethbridge-based franchise.
Back in April, Petrak and his family were invited to attend Exhibition Park’s Children’s Family Festival and since then the Lethbridge Ghostbusters have gained a tremendous amount of momentum. Petrak noted the idea of the local group was to create new ways to interact with the community’s youth and to assist with bridging the gap between young and old.
“Take them into a world where they’re working together, bonding and feeding off each other’s imagination and challenging each other to create new things,” he said.
With today’s technology and tech-savvy kids, pretty much anything can be created with a little imagination, especially with new innovation such as 3D printers. A little girl on Facebook, Petrak noted, worked with her father and built a fullyfunctional (with light, sounds and smoke) proton pack. But, the Lethbridge Ghostbusters also want to help out local schools with educational programs.
“I just did a proposal for my son’s school within the Lethbridge School District to start a Lethbridge Ghostbusters enrichment school program,” he said.
According to Petrak, the group would take between 1520 kids out of class for an hour to help students unwind. The students could potentially have ADHD or mental-health issues, and could use a little break from time to time.
“We would just take them out of class for the hour and we would do a little activity that is also challenging, but fun to do — so they can wind down and focus on something else,” he explained, adding the activity would be within the realm of education.
“So they’re still having fun and learning at the same time.”
Petrak said the Lethbridge Ghostbusters have also created a lot of opportunities for interaction at events to talk about science, art, engineering, physical education and entrepreneurship.
“We try to get very interactive with our events, too. We bring science experiments,” he said, adding kids can get involved with making slime at the group’s booths at local events.
Petrak added Lethbridge isn’t the only community with a Ghostbusters franchise. There’s a number of Ghostbusters groups around the world including a Calgary chapter and an Alberta-based group.
“With the Ghostbusters franchise, we have been given — in a way — permission and a blessing from Sony Pictures and the creator, Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd, to carry on these franchises in accordance with their rules and guidelines,” he said.
“To help raise funds and awareness for various charity groups.”
A mandate of the Lethbridge Ghostbusters is to help bring the various franchises together to work and collaborate on likeminded ideas and causes. The group dons Ghostbusters garb complete with equipment, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Slimer are often staples at the group’s live events, as well as a decaled Ghostbusters vehicle.