The USSU Food Centre, now located in Place Riel, is putting on Trick or Eat.

The old rhyme may be “trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat,” but the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union Food Centre is looking to give everyone something good to eat with the annual Trick or Eat campaign.

A national initiative, Trick or Eat is a youth-oriented program which challenges students to get involved in the fight against hunger. During the month of October, the event will be raising money toward the cause  online as well as enlisting people to head out on Halloween night to request donations of nonperishable food items. Though the campaign stretches nationwide, the U of S’ portion is once again being spearheaded by the Food Centre.

All donations from the U of S Trick or Eat campaign are donated to the Saskatoon Food Bank.

In 2013, Trick or Eat saw roughly 250 U of S student volunteers taking part on Oct. 31 and raising an estimated 7,000 pounds worth of nonperishable contributions. Despite a decrease in registered attendees by about 50 members from 2012, the night actually saw an increase in donations. USSU Food Centre coordinator Taletha Bennett believes these statistics are a result of greater public awareness of the campaign.

“I think that has to do with the residents of Saskatoon being more aware of [Trick or Eat] and lots of the volunteers said, ‘They were so good,’ and that they’d already prepared a basket of nonperishable food items to donate,” Bennett said. “It’s nice that people are more aware and accepting.”

For 2014, the cause is pushing to start a conversation with Canadian citizens on what steps can be taken to decrease hunger and will be using social media platforms such as Twitter as well as door-to-door volunteers to ask an important question: “With hunger in Canada on the rise, what can Canadians do to end it?”

According to Trick or Eat’s website, 1.4 million Canadian households were reported to have experienced food insecurity as of 2012. Citing an increase in traffic since the food centre moved out of the Memorial Union Building and into the main hub of the USSU in Place Riel, Bennett believes that the U of S community is not exempt from the increase in hunger.

“There’s a lot of calls, a lot of emails that come in and a lot of people utilizing emergency hampers. It’s good that they have that access to it, but that means that there’s definitely hunger on campus,” Bennett said.

USSU president Max FineDay shared Bennett’s feelings on the topic, and believes that moving the Food Centre has helped to alleviate students’ lack of access to food.

“Student hunger’s at an all-time high. We’re seeing people using the food centre services more than we have at any time in the past. We wanted to make things as easy to access and as visible as possible,” said FineDay, calling the Food Centre “a service that students quite need, and we wanted to make sure students know that it’s available to them.”

While the primary purpose of Trick or Eat is to aid in the fight against hunger, Bennett said there are some unexpected perks that may intrigue those with a sweet tooth.

“I always say that Trick or Eat is the most socially acceptable way for university students to go trick or treating, because you do feel too old by this age,” Bennett said. “But it’s for the cause. You dress up and you get a lot of candy. You do. Residents love when you go there and ask for a donation of food for the food bank. They just love to commend you for that, so you do end up with a lot of candy.”

Trick or Eat volunteers will meet on Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. Those looking to get involved are encouraged to register online beforehand at trickoreat.ca, and to affiliate their group with the U of S while signing up. There is no limit on the size of groups registered.

Photo: Katherine Fedoroff/Photo Editor