UIS students collect a record 28,946 pounds of food for the Central Illinois Foodbank on Halloween night

University of Illinois Springfield students helped to collect a record 28,946 pounds of food for the Central Illinois Foodbank on Halloween night. The total breaks a previous Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods record of 14,085 pounds of food collected in 2016.

A total of 17 teams, consisting of 284 students, went door-to-door in several Springfield and Chatham neighborhoods collecting the canned goods.

Over the past week, the teams canvassed the neighborhoods and distributed door hangers that explained the project. Collected items were returned and weighed on campus. Prizes were awarded to the teams that collected the most food.

Students in the Leadership for Life Service Program collected 6,152 pounds of food in the Country Club Estates and Deerfield subdivisions on Springfield’s west side. The Legion of Ladies student organization collected 6,000 pounds of food in Chatham’s Breckenridge subdivision.

For a second year, the UIS Cox Children’s Center participated in the fun by having the children in costume Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods at on campus departments. The children collected 663 pounds of food.

The Central Illinois Foodbank distributes over 9.4 million pounds of food annually to over 150 food pantries, soup kitchens, residential programs and after-school programs in a 21 county region.

For more information, or if you have food that was not collected, please contact the UIS Volunteer Center at 217/206-7716 or volunteer@uis.edu.