Trick or treat

Dal students loaded up shopping carts full of food for Trick or Eat.

Come October 31, the temptation is strong to don a wig and a Freddy Krueger mask and head out the door in search of mini chocolate bars. But since the annual candy grab is frowned upon for the 20-something crowd, some Dal students have hit on a fun way to get their trick-or-treat fix while making a difference in their community.

“Trick or Eat” is one of the year’s biggest events for Meal Exchange, a national, student-funded, youth-driven charity that addresses the problem of local hunger. Dalhousie was one of 40 campuses across the country to host a Trick or Eat event, and sent more than 100 students door to door throughout south-end Halifax on Halloween night collecting nonperishable food items for Feed Nova Scotia.

Since its inception four years ago at Dal, Trick or Eat has collected hundreds of bags of food for the Halifax community, and this year added about 2,500 kgs to the total. Fear not for the students tasked with carrying all of this: not only did event coordinators borrow shopping carts from local retailers to help students carry donations, but all of the items were picked up by Feed Nova Scotia to distribute to individuals and families in need.

“We want to students to get involved with their community and care about local hunger,” says David Voroney, who along with Liz Amos is one of the student coordinators for the Dalhousie Meal Exchange chapter this year.

“A lot of people think of hunger as people on the street who are begging for money,” says Ms. Amos. “But hunger affects the elderly, children, single mothers, people on employment insurance … I hope that by doing this, people will better understand the real faces of hunger.”