Canadians Go Greek: the source for Canadian Chapters

Guelph Mercury • Monday October 28, 2002

'Trick or Eat' for them on Halloween

By VIK KIRSCH, MERCURY STAFF

Some of the spooks this Halloween will be howling for food. University of Guelph students from the Pi Beta Phi sorority will be joined by the University of Waterloo Sigma Chi fraternity in going door-to-door for food they'll turn over to the Guelph Food Bank.

The effort is thanks to people like Alison Green. The Pi Beta Phi vice-president is one of the organizers.

"It's a good local charity that we've had a good relationship with for years," Green, a third year medical sciences student, said.

She can't wait to get out there on Halloween and scare up some food. "It's really fun and it helps the community."

She expects about 30 students from the sorority and fraternity to be pounding the pavement in n area bounded by the Edinburgh Road, Gordon Street, Kortright Road and Harvard Road area.

It's part of a larger Halloween effort by students fanning out into the community collecting food items in a new "Trick or Eat" programme from Meal Exchange, said campus co-ordinator Dave Kranenburg.

Meal Exchange gives students a way of donating campus meals they don't consume, but have paid for.

Green is encouraging anyone who wishes to make a food donation but is outside the area where students will be working to call the food bank on Crimea Street at 767-1380.

Raised in Ottawa, Green came to the Guelph campus in 2000 to begin studying for a bachelor of science degree. She joined the sorority in her first year here. The sorority, based in Tucson, Arizona, was created in 1867, and today boasts 139 chapters.

"It's a sisterhood," said Green. It promotes mental and social values, she said. On campus, it encourages students to do well, be socially active and volunteer for charity work.

In September, for example, Pi Beta Phi joined hands with the Delta Upsilon fraternity, part of the Guelph university scene, to hold a car wash at the Esso station at the corner of College Avenue and Edinburgh Road. That effort raised more than $1,000 for two literacy charities, said Green.