Trick or Eat 2018 Organizer Guide - MEAL E CHANGE
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MEAL E CHANGE Trick or Eat 2018 Organizer Guide
Students Fighting
Trick or Eat 2018 Student Hunger
Welcome to Trick or Eat!
Thank you for taking on a leadership role for Trick or Eat.
Whether this is your first year or you’re joining us again, welcome to Canada’s largest student-
driven event to raise awareness, funds, and food to address student hunger.
Since 1999, thanks to our sponsors, participants, and great organizers like you, Trick or Eat has
raised more than $4 million worth of food and funds and connected with over 1 million households
in more than 100 communities across Canada - a great step in helping to advance Meal
Exchange’s mission of combating student hunger in Canada.
2018 Theme: Students Fighting Hunger
Our focus this year is on empowering students themselves to fight student hunger by raising
food, funds and voices. Research and experience demonstrate that food donations alone
will not solve the problem of rising student hunger levels in Canada.
Trick or Eat goals:
• Raise awareness about student hunger in Canada to inspire campuses and communities to
make lasting change
• Raise funds to support student-led initiatives that are working to tackle student hunger
in Canada.
• Collect food to help students that are in need of emergency hunger relief
We believe the time is ripe to collect and elevate diverse student voices on the experiences and
impacts of hunger. Student hunger in Canada will not be solved by charitable donations alone; it’s
time to join the conversation about how we can create a just and sustainable food system that is
healthy, accessible, and affordable to all students across the country.
About Meal Exchange
Meal Exchange is the organization that runs Trick or Eat. We are a Canada-wide, youth-driven,
registered charity. We work to help students tackle student hunger and to ensure that food on
their campuses is both healthy and affordable. Since Meal Exchange began in 1993, we have
educated, mobilized, and empowered students to take an active role in improving their local food
systems. Our work focuses on hunger relief and awareness, food security education, supporting
gardens and cooking programs, and helping students on campuses across the country increase
their access to healthy and sustainable food. Meal Exchange is the only registered charity in
Canada specifically addressing with the growing issue of student hunger and food insecurity on
post-secondary campuses.
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Meal Exchange envisions a country where everyone has access to affordable, healthy and
sustainable food; the students involved with our work share this vision, and are highly engaged,
working to build a strong movement that empowers young people to take leadership roles in their
communities to combat student hunger.
Meal Exchange prides itself on hosting some of the best education and fundraising events in the
nonprofit sector, while providing education and leadership opportunities. With that, we want to
ensure we stay true to the Trick or Eat brand that has been built by following a detailed step by
step process as you plan your event. Please follow this guide to ensure brand consistency and to
increase the impact your campaign will have within your community.
About Trick or Eat
Trick or Eat is Meal Exchange’s annual, student-led, national event dedicated to helping the 40%
of Canadian post-secondary students who experience food insecurity . Historically focused on
mobilizing students to fight hunger in their communities, it has evolved in recent years to focus
specifically on the rapidly growing problem of student hunger. Trick or Eat is an online fundraising
campaign and the largest door-to-door food drive in Canada. On the night of Halloween, under
the theme ‘Students Fighting Student Hunger,’ thousands of costumed student volunteers will visit
tens of thousands of households across Canada, collecting food items and starting conversations
about the growing problem of student hunger.
What’s Next?
Organize a Trick or Eat Campaign! With Meal Exchange being such a strong network we want to
give you the opportunity to access the tools you need to have a successful campaign. This guide is
designed to help you organize your event from start to finish.
This guide is designed to help you organize your event from start to finish. Please give it a read
and if you have any questions at any point and then head over to trickoreat.ca to get started!
Please don’t hesitate to contact Meal Exchange at trickoreat@mealexchange.com.
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The Campaign at a Glance
1. Registration: Organizers across the country register their locations with Meal Exchange
and set campaign goals. Meal Exchange will create a Trick or Eat Online Page for you to
recruit participants, share information and fundraise online. Participants must sign up online
and can also create teams within the campaign (groups that will fundraise and
canvas together).
2. Set Targets: We’ve seen campaigns as big as 800 student volunteers raising $20,000 and
30,000 dollars worth of food. We’ve also seen campaigns with 5 student volunteers raise
$1000 and raise $2000 of food. What do you want your campaign to look like? Set targets
now - be ambitious. We suggest a minimum of $25 of funds raised and 25 dollars worth of
food collected by each participant. Dream big, it’s the only way we’ll be able to tackle
food insecurity!
3. Work with your local food agency: discuss what awareness and food Trick or Eat can
help raise!
4. Promote and Fundraise for Trick or Eat: It’s important to spread the word about your
event and build a campaign that will have maximum impact! *Note that all participants must
register online* We’ll send you posters to put up around your campus and community, and
banners to help you, get the word out on social media, and support on how to get your your
friends and family involved by donating to your campaign!. By building a community wide
movement, we can tackle student hunger now and in the future!
5. Connect with the Community: A few days before the event, volunteers distribute flyers
throughout the community that your campaign will be visiting to let households know that
they’re coming for their food.
6. Trick or Eat on Halloween Night: On the night of Halloween teams of costumed
volunteers begin their non-perishable food collections by going door to door and Trick or
Eating! Everybody that donates gets a thank you card. Not only is it important to thank
people for their contribution, this is also an opportunity to for some valuable community
outreach and education; let the people at the homes you visit why this cause is so important
to you. 40% of Canada’s students experience food insecurity, and it’s going to take entire
communities raising their voices to tackle it!
7. Afterward: Celebrate your success! Just because you’ve collected the food doesn’t
mean the fun is over! Share your stories and photos on social media with the hashtag
#trickoreat; let Meal Exchange National Office know how many people came out, how much
food you collected, and how many houses you visited; and have a celebration to recognize
the hard work that all the Trick or Eaters in your campaign contributed!
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Trick or Eat 2018 Student Hunger
Organizing Your Campaign
1. Set Campaign Goals
In order to have a successful Trick or Eat you need to have very clear goals around:
1. The beneficiary: Which organization will receive all the food you raise?
2. Numbers: How many Trick or Eaters do you want to see participate in your event?
3. Dollars: Amount of money you want to raise online. Our baseline goal is that each
volunteer will raise $25 from their friends and family. Participating in ToE takes about the
same time it takes to run a 5-10k race for charity- while raising food for your community!
Use fundraising as a way to raise awareness on the issues for your friends and family.
4. Number of homes you want to visit: This will help determine the amount of food
you can collect.
Make sure you let the get in touch with Meal Exchange National Office at trickoreat.ca to let us
know what your goals are - we’ll add this information to your campaign profile on the
Trick or Eat Website.
Selecting a Community Agency
If yours is a long running campaign, you likely have a relationship with a food bank or other
agency that has benefited from your Trick or Eat event in previous years.
If this is your first time running a campaign, use this opportunity to learn about student food access
organizations in your community. A couple places to think about:
• Student Food Banks - provides graduate and undergraduate students access to emergency
food, anti-poverty resources, and referrals to other food security, anti-poverty and financial
assistance groups. Trick or Eat is a critical event for helping food banks and other organizations
that support students in need to keep their shelves stocked during the early winter. Most
universities and colleges have at least one food bank on campus that provides emergency food
relief to students year round. Get in touch with the student union or campus administration to
find out who would be best to talk to.
• Community Food Banks: Many student food banks are small operations that source their food
from larger community food bank operations. Get in touch with your campus food bank to
see if this is the case. If so find out where they source their food and consider directing your
donation there.
• If you’re having trouble finding student serving organizations in your area, get in touch
with Meal Exchange. We have relationships with an extensive network of food banks and
community food centres across the country and would be happy to connect you. You can also
search for a Community Food Centre or a Good Food Organization in your area by visiting
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www.cfccanada.ca -To search for a food bank in your area, please visit:
www.foodbankscanada.com.
It is important to connect with the agencies as soon as possible (at least a month before the
campaign) to determine if they have the capacity to accept donation, and if they can provide any
additional resources or support for the campaign (such as driver(s) for the night of the event and/
or to pick up the food at the end of the event, and to help advertise the event).
2. Register Your Campaign
Registration is a simple process this year.
Just fill out this Organizer Registration Form at www.trickoreat.ca (less than 15 minutes) and we
will set up an online Trick or Eat specific to your campaign!
Your campaign page will serve as an important tool to help you organize your volunteers and
to fundraise. It will facilitate the planning and communications process and support education,
connection and community. See Appendix 2 for a step by step process on how to recruit friends to
register for your campaign!
3. Create a Team: Recruit Campaign Leaders
Trick or Eat is more fun with campaign leaders. Why organize this event alone? It will be way more
fun and efficient to bring in teammates to give you a helping hand in organizing the campaign.
These people differ from the participants who will be collecting and fundraising for the campaign
since they’ll be taking on a leadership roles in the weeks leading up to Halloween and will have a
direct hand in shaping the overall Trick or Eat experience.
We advise recruiting a team of 5-7 helpers who will support you with the following:
• Recruiting participants
• Help promote the event
• Help train your volunteer participants
• Help organize the kick-off the night of the event
• Support the logistics the night of the event (participant registration, food delivery, set up)
These people differ from the participants who will be collecting and fundraising for the campaign
since they’ll be taking on a leadership roles in the weeks leading up to Halloween and will have a
direct hand in shaping the overall Trick or Eat experience.
For those of you that are attending the National Student Food Summit in Montreal from November
1 to 5 - you will want to make sure that you have campaign leaders that are staying on campus to
coordinate post-event logistics.
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4. Recruit participants
Welcome Week - Student Union Outreach - Newsletters
The best time to engage students on campus is during the first couple of weeks of the Fall semester.
Consider signing up to table at your orientation and welcome weeks to meet new and
excited students.
Each participant must sign up online to join Trick or Eat this year.1 We encourage all participants
to reach out to their networks and fundraise just $25 for the campaign. When participants register,
they will be given the opportunity to contribute the first $5 to their campaign, but this is optional.
5. Fundraise
Fundraising is an important part of Trick or Eat; while food donations meet the immediate needs
of students facing hunger, the money raised through Trick or Eat allows Meal Exchange to equip
students with the skills, tools, and connections they need to tackle student hunger in the long term.
This way, Trick or Eat not only meets the needs of students experiencing hunger now, but allows
them to boldly envision and work toward a future where all students have access to the food
they need.
Meal Exchange national staff will send periodic reminders to participants to involve their friends
and families by asking them to donate to the Trick or Eat campaign. We encourage you to do the
same. This year we’re awarding exciting prizes to top fundraisers!
6. Develop Your Campaign
Secure A Meet-up Location
You will need a location where your volunteers gather before the event, where the food you collect
will be sorted, and where it will (potentially) be stored. You should try to book this space, at the
latest, by October 10th to ensure that everything is ready for the big day!
Meet-up locations should meet the following criteria:
Easily accessible location for your participants; ideally on campus
A large space for your participants to gather, sort and store food
Enough parking for your participants and any food drop-offs
We encourage you to connect with your local campus foodbank, not only to make sure
they’re ready to receive the food you’re going to collect, but because they may be able to
connect you with space that meets your needs.
1 Registering online ensures that participants over 18 will sign an online waiver, get all Trick or Eat information and have the
opportunity to fundraise online.
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Please ensure you confirm the following with the
location:
Storage for 24 hours (if required)
What time can you get in on the event day (for set up)?
Does the venue provide tables?
Is parking available for participants?
Determine How You Will Collect Your Food Donations
There are several options to choose from:
Grocery Carts – get in touch with Meal Exchange national
staff if you’d like resources to help connect you to local
grocery stores to borrow carts
Cars – we suggest having some boxes in the car for
loose items
Reusable eco-bags
Luggage (wheels recommended)
Selecting Your Routes
This is the key to a successful event! Each route constitutes approximately 75 houses. This year, for
campuses that connect with us ahead of time, Meal Exchange is creating and distributing route
maps for each of your teams to use. If you would like Meal Exchange’s support to get maps for
your teams to use, email trickoreat@mealexchange.com.
Get Student Union Approval:
Play by the rules and keep it safe! Ensure you get approvals to put up posters, and set up a desk/
display for recruitment both in the weeks leading up to Trick or Eat and on the big night itself!
7. Market Your Campaign
You’ll want to spread the word about your event so that as many students, donors, and households
participate! To do this you’ll need to create a media strategy to help get the word out, recruit
participants, and let the community know you’re coming. This is as simple as sending a short note
to local newspapers and making sure your posting on social media. We have lots of resources to
help you with this - contact us as trickoreat@mealexchange.com for more information!
This is also a great opportunity to hold any prior events that will help build momentum before the
event such as classroom talks, documentary/movie nights, booth for early sign-up and information.
Engage Local Media
• Submit media advisories to local media and/or campus media (radio, TV, and newspapers)
about 10 days before Trick or Eat and again right before the date. If you would like support
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or templates, send an email to trickoreat@mealexchange.com
Be Social Media Savvy
Social media is an essential part of any successful Trick or Eat campaign. Engage with as many
people as you can via online tools to increase participation and donations.
Our social media checklist will help you reach as many people as possible to take a bite
out of hunger!
• Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the core social media applications that people use,
however experiment with others like Pinterest, Youtube, Snapchat.
• Promote Trick or Eat. Tell people how they can sign up for Trick or Eat, collect donations
online and which campus food agency your campaign will be supporting.
• Use the hashtag #TrickOrEat when talking about your campaign. We’ll retweet your pictures
and updates of your campaign.
• Connect with Meal Exchange on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. We’ll be sharing
updates, contests, & exciting content leading up to Halloween.
• Connect with the campus food agency you are collecting for on any social media channels
they use and encourage them to follow you back. You can also ask them to help promote
your campaign on their pages.
• Share photo updates of your campaign and tag @mealexchange
• Go to YouTube and watch Trick or Eat animation videos. Share these with your friends and
encourage them to sign up for Trick or Eat.
A few more things that will amplify your campaign:
Facebook
• Create a Facebook event! Have your location name followed by Trick or Eat as the name of
the Facebook event. For example, “401 Richmond Trick or Eat.”
• Add your friends! Send out a request to all of your friends, classmates, colleagues and
neighbours to ask them to register/support your event and help spread the word.
Twitter:
• Keep your updates consistent and talk about Trick or Eat! This will help increase the success of
your #trickoreat campaign.
Instagram:
• Get creative, make a story, and tag @mealexchange.
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Website:
• Use your fundraising and registration webpage to promote Trick or Eat. This will encourage
people from your community to participate in your campaign.
• Get your campus food agency to promote Trick or Eat on their website as well!
Remember that there is no such thing as too much publicity - spread the word in every space that
you think will suit your community!
8. Let the Community Know!
You’ll want to make sure that people will have food on-hand to give you the night of Halloween.
No one wants that forgotten back-of-the cupboard stuff right? So flyering is key!
Organize teams and distribute your flyers 7-10 days prior to event date.
• It is important not to send these out too far in advance (a maximum of 10 days)
• It is just as important to ensure the community has enough time to prepare (a minimum of
7 days)
• Ensure you distribute to the routes that will be canvassed on Halloween. This way the houses
you visit will have food for you, and nobody is missed.
9. Create an Event-Day Plan
In order for your event to go smoothly you will want to have everything ready to go prior to the
day. Here are some things to consider:
Create team packages. These should include:
• Route Map
• Schedule for the evening
• Name Tags
• Emergency Contacts (include the Organizers)
• Thank You Cards for people who give food at the door
• Brochures and flyers that participants can hand out to the houses they visit
• Some extra copies of the “At the Door Script”
Kickoff Event Logistics:
• It is recommended that you get a representative from the campus food bank that is receiving
your donations to speak at the rally at your launch site. Please remember this is an
opportunity to motivate your participants for the night and remind them of the cause that has
brought us all together.
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Consider:
• Registration Area (staff with 2-4 helpers)
• Kick-off speech (this is recommended that the Organizer and Charity Rep speak)
• Food & Beverage during kick-off: this is a great opportunity for donations by vendors such as
Loblaw, pizza companies, etc.
Vehicles/Transportation Logistics:
• How many drivers do you have? How much can they transport?
• When and where do they need to be available?
Prizes & Incentives:
• Consider incentive and competitions between groups to increase engagement
• Prizes can be donated by local businesses - be sure to give them a shoutout!
• Letter to community business for donations
Donated Food Delivery Logistics:
• Storage of food - some foodbanks won’t be able to take in the food you’ve collected until the
day after the event, so make sure you take this into account
• How many helpers are required to deliver and sort the food
Finalize Your Route Plan
When finalizing your route plan make sure that you have 5-10 unassigned extra routes. The
majority of your participants will likely join a week or two before the actual date of the campaign.
So give out more rather than less.
10.Communicate Your Plan
For Volunteers:
• Make sure all organizers are aware of their responsibilities for the event date (i.e., arrival
time, specific tasks, thank you cards etc.). We recommend that as the organizer you make
sure you have all of your volunteers’ contact information in case someone is late or does not
show up.
For Participants:
• Make sure you send out a reminder email to all your participants about the details of your
locations (i.e. arrival time, things to bring, etc.)
11. Event Day Logistics
The day is here! Here are some things to think about:
• There will always be people who show up to your event that have not registered online. You
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will want to have extra routes (approx. 5-10) and a pile of waivers and sign up forms ready
for these individuals and teams. You should also consider having a laptop or tablet on hand
so people can quickly sign up.
• Bring enough waivers for those 18+. Available on Resource page!
• Either at registration or during your speech at the kick off rally you will want to remind
participants that everyone is expected to travel in pairs.
• Keep track of the number of participants who participated but did not register online.
• Make sure all the Team Captains have their packages and thank you cards.
12. Follow-Up
The night of, let Meal Exchange staff know how it went ASAP (if you can). We’ll be in the national
office tweeting all night! Also, don’t forget to send out your own media release to your local
media, social media updates, and emails to let your community know how things went. People love
to know how they contributed and overall results of the event!
After the event, you’ll receive a survey to fill out. This information is very important as every
year, you’re feedback helps us make sure that each run Trick or Eat is an even more successful
campaign. This survey will include:
• Name of campus foodbank that you supported
• Amount of food donated (in items or pounds)
• Number of participants
• Any media mentions received
• A brief statement that says: “I ________attest that all aforementioned information is accurate
to the best of my knowledge.
So What’s New this Year?
This year all food raised will go directly to the foodbank of the campaigns choice to support the
immediate needs that exist on campuses, and all funds raised online will go directly towards Trick
or Eat to support the long term change students are leading in communities across Canada
There is also no sign up fee this year. In past years, there was a registration fee to sign up a
campaign. We have removed this barrier this year in hopes that more campaigns and communities
will be able to participate. When volunteers register, they will be encouraged to reach out to
friends and family to collect donations to support this work, and will be asked if they want to start
of their fundraising with a personal $5 donation. This $5 donation is entirely optional.
It is extremely important that all organizers and participants to register online however, so that we
can monitor communication, fundraising, and waivers leading up to Trick or Eat!
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Appendix A: SAMPLE SCRIPT AT THE DOOR
Trick or Eat!
Hello my name is ______ and this is (introduce friend). We’re with (insert group name) collecting
non-perishable food donations for (insert campus food agency here). Are you able to make a non-
perishable food donation?
YES, THEY HAVE A DONATION: Thank you! This is Meal Exchange’s 17th year of Trick or Eat and
unfortunately the hunger problem in Canada is only getting worse. Tonight, in addition to collecting
food, we’re starting a nation wide conversation about hunger and ask. We’re also collecting
money to support programs to directly tackle student food insecurity, currently experienced by
40% of students in Canada.
The primary response to hunger today remains food donations, which is not a long term solution to
hunger. To learn more about how you can take the next step to help us address hunger, please see
this card (give them the card).
Thank you! Happy Halloween!
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Appendix B: A Guide to Recruitment and Registration
Participant Registration
Like you, participants are required to register online with Trick or Eat. There are 3 ways to do this:
• You can invite them to join your campaign by email (there are templates for you to use built into
the registration platform)
• You can register them (if you recruit on clubs day, or in classes)
• They can find your campaign on the Trick or Eat site.
They will also have the ability to create “teams” within your campaign. As an organizer, this is
helpful because it provides an easy way for you assign routes to groups of volunteers on the night
of the event. Teams also allow for more leadership among participants and encourage registration.
Monitoring Participant Registration
As the organizer you’ll have the ability to post messages to your volunteers and see who has
registered and for what team. We will be sending regular updates to all participants with both
national level and local level information, but you can also send email updates/reminders to your
groups. Be sure to monitor your registration on an on going basis and make sure your participants
remember to fundraise!
Promote on Campus
• Hang posters around campus to help get the word out
• Have a registration table where you can attract students to sign up on the spot! Be sure to have
a laptop with you so people can quickly sign up.
• Approach and engage other campus groups (teams and clubs) and students living in residence
(for this you may want to connect with residence advisors or housing and conference services).
• PLEASE NOTE: We are happy to send printed promotional materials to your campaign;, your
last day to order from Meal Exchange is Friday, October 1st.
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