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Hillels of Westchester Go 'Trick or Treating' For Hunger
November 7, 2006Comments (0) | Add | E-mail this to a friend
 Students from Hillels of Westchester donned costumes and collected food for the homeless on Halloween.
Dressed in costume as cats, ballerinas, pirates and gypsies, college students from Sarah Lawrence College and SUNY Purchase spent Halloween knocking on the doors of homes in nearby Westchester County, NY as they went “Trick or Treating for Hunger.”
The community service program was the brainchild of the Hillel of Westchester program director, Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.
“We know that Jewish students are going to be interested in Halloween, so we took something from another culture [Halloween], and infused it with Jewish values, like tzedek or social justice,” said Rothbaum.
The event was coordinated with both the SUNY Purchase and Sarah Lawrence College Hillels. The Hillel students at SUNY Purchase also collaborated with another social justice-based campus organization, NYPIRG.
In advance of their night of trick or treating, the students printed flyers and slipped them into the mailboxes and under the doors of homes, letting the residents know that on Halloween, instead of asking for candy, they would be asking for food, clothing and household products. All goods would be donated to local soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
On Halloween, 23 students, from both campuses, divided into several groups, each equipped with maps and a car, and visited over 800 homes during four hours of trick or treating.
“The community was very enthusiastic and were really willing to give,” said SUNY Purchase junior, Gabrielle Nazri. “I was surprised that some people even gave us things like Godiva chocolate, herbal tea and gourmet coffee.”
By evening’s end all the groups from both campuses had collected several dozen bags filled with donations.
Some of the more unusual donations, like a set of wine glasses and an old lamp, caused some of the students to wonder if the residents were donating what the needy actually needed or if they were just getting rid of things they didn’t want.
But regardless of his neighbors’ motivations, for Anthony Bernardo it was an opportunity to give back to the community on a night he might have otherwise been celebrating.
“It was a chance to get into the mode of doing community service and a way of being involved with Hillel,” said the SUNY Purchase senior. “I think it says a lot about Hillel’s approach to community service.”
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