We Scare Hunger returns for 18th year at St. Thomas More

Hamilton high school students are joining forces to take a bite out of hunger again this Halloween.

Around 800 volunteers will fan out into the community from St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School on Wednesday afternoon and evening to collect canned goods which are then donated to the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre.

Last year’s We Scare Hunger campaign, the 17th annual, collected over 83,000 pounds of food.

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This year’s goal is 100,000 pounds, as the student volunteers visit 23,000 homes on the central and west mountain.

Charlotte Redekop-Young, Neighbour 2 Neighbour’s warehouse manager, says the campaign galvanizes the community and raises awareness of poverty issues.

She adds that We Scare Hunger is their biggest single food drive event of the year, providing almost 15 per cent of annual donations and making it “critical” to the 1,200 families that Neighbour 2 Neighbour supports.

Redekop-Young adds that this week’s high-need items include canned tomatoes, canned fruit, granola bars and low-sugar cereals.