STU tops country for Halloween spirit

Trick or Eat's logo stencilled on a sidewalk, part of its guerilla advertising.

The tiny campus of St. Thomas University has more to brag about than being a Canadian leader in liberal arts. Last year it topped the national charts in a different area of expertise – trick or treating.

This year on Halloween, hundreds of students from all walks of life at St. Thomas will come together once again for Trick or Eat, one of the campus’ biggest events of the year.

“Last year we came number two after Guelph (University), which is pretty impressive considering Guelph had 1000 volunteers and we had 320,” said Emily Bosse, a St. Thomas student and coordinator of Fredericton’s Trick or Eat.

Trick or Eat is a giant food drive put on by volunteers from both the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University. Costumed students comb neighbourhoods on Halloween for food donations, all the while having a good time and raising awareness about hunger in the community of Fredericton.

“This is an event that brings all elements of our campus together. Anyone who can at S.T.U. comes out to work together and bring together as much food as possible for the Fredericton Food Bank and the St.Thomas Food Bank,” said Bosse, adding residences, clubs and societies, sports teams, and members of the faculty have all signed up for the event.

The program is put on every year through Meal Exchange, a national student-driven charity organized on campuses across the country in order to address local hunger.

Trick or Eat was so successful last year that trick-or-treaters managed to collect ten tonnes of food – roughly a two month food supply for the Fredericton Food Bank. In dollars, that’s about $42,000 worth of eats, Bosse said.

Last year’s event was made more meaningful as the St. Thomas campus learned of the passing of one of its professors, John McKendy.

“There was such a spirit that we were doing this for someone who thought these issues mattered. He was a volunteer for Trick or Eat for many years,” Bosse explained. “We did mention him when we gathered, that all of them were collecting food and helping in his honour, and students started to cheer and have their hands on their hearts. It was a testament to something that has the potential to break our campus apart and I think it brought our students and staff together.”

As students are surrounded by advertisements every day on campus, Bosse said the secret to getting the message through is something she calls “guerrilla advertising”.

“It’s fast, cheap, and effective advertising. We don’t have much money because Trick or Eat costs about $50 to put on… we try to do as many different and direct things as we can.”

And it seems like students are getting the message loud and clear.

“I think it’s very well established at this point and it is something that student in particular are aware of because a lot of students are living precariously in terms of money and they know what it means to eat the same thing seven days a week. It’s an issue they are close to as a demographic.”

Despite Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, a big party night for university students, Bosse still hopes to have as many participants as last year give three hours of their time.

“First of all, it’s a fun event, and second of all, when we’re speaking to people we mention they’re back by 8 p.m… if you need to be very drunk before 8 p.m. then you may have your priorities a little mixed up,” she said. “I think students can understand they’ll get prizes, free food, and you get told thank you a million times in a night.”

On Saturday, October 31, participants can begin to arrive to register at James Dunn Hall on St. Thomas campus from 5 – 5:30 p.m. The buses will leave at 6 p.m. and trick-or-treaters will be back on campus by 8 p.m. There will be pizza afterwards and a prize for best costume.

“It’s an easy way to help. All you have to do is come out, you know you’re doing something good,” Bosse said.

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Posted by Molly Cormier on Oct 19, 2009. Filed under News, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.