Halloween is a time for pumpkin carving, candy and putting plastic skeletons on your front porch, but for Dublin-area high school students, it’s also a time to help out a local charity.
In costume, of course.
Every Halloween, students from Dublin’s three high schools trick-or-treat for canned foods to donate to the Dublin Food Pantry.
“The kids come over here Halloween evening and bring us their food,” says Operations Coordinator Lynne Hessler. “It’s so much fun because they will come in costume.”
The program began as a service of the International Thespian Society, a student honorary organization run by the Educational Theatre Association.
“Years ago, all three of the high schools and their drama clubs were involved in this,” Hessler says. “They would go out and collect canned goods from the community and bring them here.”
Now, most of the program’s participants are members of volunteer clubs at Dublin Scioto High School, but the program still boasts a large turnout every year.
“Last year we had approximately 120 high-schoolers come, and they brought us 3,780 pounds of food,” Hessler says. “It’s probably within a two-hour time frame.”
The pantry provides food for more than 240 families per month, and the trick-or-treating program helps give it the resources it needs to provide for clients.
Plus, who doesn’t love trick-or-treating?
“(The students) totally enjoy it,” says Hessler. “They get to go out on trick-or-treat night, and they’re helping an extremely worthwhile cause.”
Athnie McMillan-Comeaux is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at hbealer@cityscenecolumbus.com.
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Washington Township Community Garden, which has a relationship with the Dublin Food Pantry
