Halloween for the Hungry Means Cans, Not Candy

“It was Halloween night of 2006,” started off Simone Hudson, 17, sounding as if she were telling a spooky story. But this story is anything but spooky. It's about a girl who went trick-or-treating and came back a hunger hero. She went on, “I was sorting through my candy as I love to do, and it struck me that the whole ritual went against what I've always been taught about giving back to the world.”

She said she felt strange getting bucketfuls of candy while many people didn't have enough to eat. With this realization came a resolve to collect food to help those with little to eat and Halloween for the Hungry was born.

For the past five years instead of trick-or-treating for candy, Hudson has led the effort to collecting non-perishable food to give to local community food banks.

Here's how it works. Hudson and a team of volunteers drop off letters to their neighbors explaining the project and asking them to stock up on non-perishable food items. On Halloween night the volunteers dress up, Hudson dons her elaborate witch's hat and they head out to collect the “treats” in a shopping cart.

Hudson says that upon seeing the empty shopping cart, some of the trick-or-treaters have commented that she must anticipate a lot of candy this year. This just presents her with another opportunity to talk about her project and about how widespread hunger is in the community. Simone's dad, David Hudson, then drives around in a pick-up truck to pick up the food and take it to their house where it is placed into food bank bins to be picked up later by Alameda County Community Food Bank.

The food bank serves approximately 196,000 hungry people in Alameda County each month, and for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano that number is 130,000. According to the Hunger in America 2010 study the number of people who may be in need of emergency food assistance has gone up 46% since 2006.

Hudson had always connected food with community. When she was just 10 years old she began organizing bake sales for various causes that she was concerned about. She'd raise about $50-$100 from each bake sale, but would also raise awareness of the issues such as the deadly 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Over the last five years Halloween for the Hungry has grown with more neighbors participating and contributing more food, as well as volunteers who distribute letters and help collect cans in their neighborhoods.

Hudson will be going off to college next year, and though she hasn't decided what she will study, she is certain about keeping Halloween for the Hungry alive. "I know I want to give back to the world in some way," she said when asked about her plans after graduation from high school.

In the meantime, she keeps busy attending high school in San Fransico, playing violin and indulging her passion for musical theater. She's also looking ahead to the future and is currently searching for somebody to take over the helm to coordinate the efforts of Halloween for the Hungry volunteers.

Hudson's pick-up route is set for this weekend, but if you'd like to help out you can distribute letters and pick up food in your own neighborhood. Go to the Halloween for the Hungry website, click on Get Involved to register and find out more. If you're planning on donating food and you're not sure what to get, check out this list of most needed food items put together by the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.