Leslie Wilks
In Focus

Not all zombies knocking on doors tomorrow evening around Humber’s Lakeshore campus are looking for brains or candy—some want non-perishable food items.
As part of this year’s nationwide Meal Exchange Trick-or-Eat fundraising initiative, student volunteers are canvassing neighbourhoods in costumes looking for donations for local food banks.
Alex Tindale, 24, and Brock Warner, 23, are two of eight Humber fundraising and volunteer management students who have been organizing this campaign for the past seven weeks.
 “It’s definitely gone beyond a class assignment,” said Warner. “We all love it.”    
“I’m really excited,” added Tindale. “You can’t just go door-to-door trick-or-treating when you’re 24-years-old. But if you’re collecting food than you have an excuse to dress-up. I was so excited I got assigned this.”
All the proceeds will be going to the Jean Tweed Centre, a women’s shelter that helps women facing problems with substance abuse and gambling.
“We thought that women’s shelters may be sometimes overlooked when it comes to food donations,” said Warner.
Dave Kranenburg, executive director of Meal Exchange, a non-profit charity fighting hunger in Canada, said Trick-or-Eat was started in 2001 by St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB.
It is one of several student fundraising initiatives organized by Meal Exchange.
In its first year, Trick-or-Eat raised $9,000 worth of donations, said Kranenburg.
Since then the program has grown.  In total they have raised close to $1.25 million in donations.
“We are expecting about 6,000 volunteers this year,” said Kranenburg. “We have 62 registered locations in Canada, plus an additional two in the United States and one in Australia.”
Through networking, a Facebook group, posters and on-campus canvassing, Tindale and Warner have attracted 30 Humber volunteers and counting, surpassing their goal of 20.
“Our main focus is to make sure every volunteer is having a good time, they know what they’re doing and it’s fun,” said Tindale.
On Wednesday the fundraising students went out and put door hangers on every house they will be visiting to inform residents they will be coming.
On Halloween volunteers will meet in the cafeteria at the Lakeshore campus where they will be assigned routes, awarded prizes for best costumes and head out in groups of four in search of donations.
Their goal is to collect 500 cans of food, said Warner. They have already received $200 and counting in online cash donations, plus gift certificates from the local No Frills.
Tindale said she’s enjoyed working with Meal Exchange.
“You don’t usually run into a charity that’ll encourage young people to fundraise for whatever’s a concern in their neighbourhood,” said Tindale.
Warner said he has high hopes for the Trick-or-Eat campaign and hopes it can become a permanent fixture at Humber.
“We really feel like we’re making a difference,” he said.
“We know it’s going to go really well.”で