Trick or Treat for Canned Goods, organized by Key Club, is a project where volunteers collect canned goods from almost 3,000 houses during Trick-or-Treating hours. Key Club members posted flyers earlier in the week to allow households to prepare for the event. These canned goods are then donated to Anchor House, a food pantry for those in need in Seymour. Recently, because of the government shutdown, many have been left without SNAP benefits. They have been told to go to food pantries. Anchor House usually serves around 80 families a month, but expects over 1,800 families soon, making the success of this project integral. 

Teaming up with FFA, SHS baseball, JAG, and National Honor Society, volunteers split into 6 groups to spread across 30 subdivisions, being driven by an adult volunteer from Kiwanis. Across those neighborhoods, the volunteers went door to door and collected the canned goods (sometimes placed on porches, sometimes not) and transported them back to the high school once the car was full.

Planning was a rigorous and very difficult task. Starting before the end of the previous school year, Brooklyn Howell was tasked with picking subdivisions and counting each house of the thousands, stating that “the most difficult part of planning was determining the subdivisions…it took a lot of time to plan.” Also in charge of marketing, she mentioned that she “enjoyed designing the graphics and sharing them with everyone.” This project was worked on until the very minute it started, but the effort paid off.

This year has seen more success than previously seen, outnumbering previous years in over a thousand pounds of canned goods for Anchor House. In total, Anchor House received over 3,000 pounds of food over only a few hours–equivalent to $6,000–compared to last year’s 2,000 pounds. This influx of food will allow Anchor House to be prepared to provide for many more families.

This has been an annual project of Key Club, and each year surpasses the previous. Next year, I encourage you to join in! One doesn’t have to be a member to participate in this event, and volunteer hours will be awarded. On top of this, it’s a lot of fun. With more volunteers, Key Club can expand its reach. Help Key Club reach 5,000 pounds of food!