Podcast brings Halloween smiles to Vista Maria girls
Greg Wier has spent recent months using his “More Than Just Luck” podcast to help bring attention to the experiences of young women connected to Vista Maria, the Dearborn Heights organization serving vulnerable girls.
On Monday, Wier and his podcast team took a break from telling those stories to give something back, hosting a Halloween party for more than 40 Vista Maria girls and their children at Prestige Banquet Hall in Allen Park.
The children were treated to dinner, face painting, games, a costume contest and everyone went home with a pumpkin for next week’s Halloween on Saturday, Oct. 31.
“I think it’s great that Greg hosts these events,” said Janene Tague, who lived at Vista Maria in 2007-2008. “It brings everybody together. Some of us meet regularly but there’s some girls, this is where they connect. I love that he does this.”
It was the fifth outing hosted by Wier, who is documenting the alleged physical and sexual abuse at the all-girls residential treatment center in Dearborn Heights. His “More Than Just Luck” podcast features more than 20 interviews with survivors.
The podcast also broke the story on Monday of Detroit lawyer Greg Rohl being disbarred for stealing $600,000 from Tabatha Kerr, whose daughter, Lilliana, died on Jan. 20, 2017, when a cafeteria table fell and killed her at a Head Start program in Dearborn Heights.
Watch the crooked lawyer story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1meAMnzuGso&t=3465s
“It was more about the kids tonight than about the adults,” Wier said. “We wanted to show the survivors of Vista Maria, the girls that now have families, that we can put together a good party with food, a costume contest, candy and pumpkins to go. Overall, things went well.”
Watch the survivor stories here: https://www.youtube.com/@morethanjustluck/videos
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