Treat or eat

Commerce students Blake Morgan and Michelle Honsberger are taking part in Meal Exchange's Trick or Eat food drive on Halloween. (Nick Pearce Photo)

In the early evening hours of Halloween, it’s not unusual to have your dinner interrupted by wee ghosts or goblins who need to be tucked in before Jeopardy!

But this Friday, you might also get a knock on your door by university students in their best Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, Iron Man or Joker disguises. But they’re not after your mini-chocolate bars or smarties; they’ll be collecting canned goods for Feed Nova Scotia.

More than 130 students are expected to take part in this year’s Trick or Eat, a food drive conducted by students around university and college campuses throughout Canada. At Dalhousie, the students will meet outside the Rowe Management Building at 4 p.m. and fan out throughout the surrounding neighborhoods.

The students have given Dalhousie neighbors advance warning of the event with doorknob hangers.

“Everyone I met has been super,” says Michelle Honsberger, 19, one of the Dal students involved with Meal Exchange, a national, student-funded, youth-driven charity that addresses the problem of local hunger. “They’ve told us they’ll have a bag ready to give us, and if they’re not going to be around, they’ll leave it by the door.”

The students have rented a U-Haul and have borrowed shopping carts from Sobeys to make collection easier. Last year, Dal students gathered more than 5,300 lbs of food.

It promises to be a lot of fun, says commerce student Blake Morgan, who doesn’t mind giving up a Friday night to participate in a food drive. “There’s enough nights of the year when I can (go out),” says the 19-year-old from Georgetown, Ont. who hasn’t decided on a costume. “Doing something right is definitely a fun thing to do.”

Adds Ms. Honsberger, from St. Catharine’s, Ont.: “I just love the opportunity to give back to Halifax. Since I moved here, I absolutely fell in love with the city.”

Students can still get involved with Trick or Eat. Simply show up Friday, 4 p.m. at the Rowe Building, or sign up online at www.mealexchange.com.

LINK: Time to retire your Scream mask. LA Times provides some more current Halloween costume ideas.

SIGN UP for this year's Trick or Eat