This Halloween, instead of getting candy, you can give canned food thanks to UBC’s Trick or Eat, an event that puts a new spin on an old Halloween tradition while helping the hungry in one full sweep.

Trick or Eat is headed by Meal Exchange, an organization started in 1993 by Wilfred Laurier University student Rahul Raj that focuses on student solutions to help Canadians faced with hunger. In 2001, Meal Exchange expanded to include a UBC chapter. Now, the organization spans universities across Canada and the US and puts on various events throughout the year.

Katherine Xu, co-president of UBC Red Cross, said that “over the past few years Trick or Eat has been extremely successful and had amazing response from students and community.”

Xu said that Trick or Eat is UBC Red Cross’s most popular event and takes place on Halloween night. The concept is simple: people go door to door just as they would for trick or treating, but instead of asking for candy, they ask for canned food. The majority of the collected food is then donated to the UBC Food Bank, with some going to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. The event asks that volunteers take three hours of their time to wander the streets near and around UBC and collect food. When the collecting is done, volunteers are either free to party the night away or stay and help with packaging and sorting the food.

Last year’s Trick or Eat saw over 400 students trek through the cold and collect over 8750 pounds of food. Throughout Canada, 6000 volunteers collected close to $400,000 worth of food. This year, Meal Exchange hopes to reach their goal of raising $400,000 worth of food and $30,000 in online donations, helping the 2.7 million Canadians faced with hunger.

If helping stop hunger isn’t enough, volunteers can dress in costumes and collect food and candy. Students can register online or check out the many AMS clubs on campus that are doing it: the UBC Red Cross, UBC Food Bank, and Phrateres do this event every year.

Shannon Rooney, an executive for Phrateres UBC, a non-profit AMS social service club for women, is excited about this year’s event. “It’s a great way to give back and the neighbourhoods we visit really do appreciate us coming,” she explained. “It’s such a great cause! We tend to get a few pieces of candy too, so it’s basically just as fun as trick-or-treating.”

Trick or Eat takes place on Saturday, October 31 from 4pm–7:30pm. Want to help but can’t make it to the event? You can donate money—as little as $2.50 can supply one whole meal.