On Halloween night, Oct. 31, around 10 volunteers took to the streets to trick or treat, but with a twist.
Instead of accepting candy like most trick or treaters, St. Thomas University volunteers said “trick or eat?” and asked for non-perishable food donations for the campus food bank in their annual Trick n’ Eat event.
“It was just a win-win situation. We had fun trick or eating. At the end of the day, it’s gonna help students as well, so it’s good on both ends,” said Boluwatise Oduntan, STU student and volunteer at the event.
Oduntan joined the event last minute after hearing about it from a friend. As an international student from Nigeria, Oduntan has never been trick or treating before. Although it was cold, she says seeing people’s reactions after opening the door made the cold air worth it.
“People were really excited to go check what they had,” she said. “I think people were shocked at first … And then one thing that was really surprising is even after giving us items, a lot of them would give us candies.”
Volunteers split up and started walking on Windsor Street, making their way around a few surrounding streets before heading back. After nearly two hours and knocking on dozens of doors, the students brought back enough food to nearly double what was already on the food bank shelves.
The food bank resides in a small room in Brian Mulroney Hall, equipped with a refrigerator and two tall shelves that hold a myriad of canned soups and vegetables and bags of beans and lentils.
Claire Morrison, the food bank coordinator, buys most of the food with her own money. While last year she had the help of a volunteer who bought nearly $150 worth of food every week, she is now stocking the shelves alone, which has cut the amount of food available in half. So events like Trick n’ Eat are very helpful.
“It was probably maybe two or three times as much food as we would normally have there,” said Morrison. “So that’s nice. I should go look now because it’s probably all gone.”
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Morrison estimates that there are regularly 10 people that use the food bank daily, however this year she has noticed less need for the food bank compared to last year. She stocks the food bank with cans, both branded and unbranded, the latter of which do not often get taken.
“Because the packaging doesn’t look legit, nobody touches it,” said Morrison. “It’s an indicator that things aren’t as bad. If they were that bad, they would not be judging by the label.”
Although the decrease in food bank need is good, student hunger still remains present, especially in a time of high grocery prices and food insecurity.
Related: Textbooks or groceries? Students react to rising food prices
“I think it’s very important because I have been a student myself. I know how hard it can be,” said Oduntan.
“It was good knowing that we’re doing something to help people and putting our time to good use.”
