Lin-Lin Mo

Juniors Mandeep Dhillon, Isabella Yallapragada, and Shubhi Sinha (clockwise from top left) make bracelets as part of a Kenya Club and UNICEF initiative. The leaders plan on selling them for five dollars each to contribute to both of their causes.

More than 179 million Americans will celebrate Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation. This large group reflects the heightened spirit present during the Halloween season and causes community events, such as fund-raising, to be popular at this time.

House sponsor Sarah Wolff said groups like House of Representatives, which will run it’s Trick or Treat for Riley campaign again this year, take advantage of that popularity brought about during the Halloween season.

“Halloween is the time when the community comes out and is active, so we can get the community involved and that’s a time when the community wants to participate in activities,” Wolff said.

Muskaan Ramchandani, UNICEF officer, advocacy team lead and junior, said she agrees community attitude during the season is a big component in why volunteering is successful. UNICEF Club will again participate in its annual trick or treat event to raise money for children.

Ramchandani said, “Trick-or-treat is a custom where people just go and they take candy from others. . . you could go to as many as 50 to 100 houses, and if each person just donates a little bit it really accumulates over time.”

Trick or Treat for UNICEF raises money through small orange boxes, which are placed throughout the school and carried by club members. Trick or Treat for Riley is an event hosted in the Freshman Cafeteria with 23 activity stations, each with a different theme. Donations of choice are made upon entry.

Frances Miller, Cabinet member and senior, said, “The only challenge with fund-raising for Trick or Treat (for Riley) is that the cost to attend is a donation towards Riley. It is no set amount, so we don’t really have any guarantee on what set amount we are trying to make. It is always just based on how generous people are.”

Ramchandani also said UNICEF has some challenges with their fund-raising. She said, “A lot of people are saving money for Christmas gifts . . . a lot of people are just really hesitant to donate just because they know that they have a lot of other places to donate to, but usually when we tell them where the funds go, they donate whatever they can.”

Although both UNICEF and House have drastically different Halloween fund-raising events, Wolff and Ramchandani said they both enjoy the child-related aspects in their events.

Wolff said, “I think (Trick or Treat for Riley) is great because it gives time for high school students and young kids in the community to interact. This event has evolved since five years ago when we started it. Now it has become so in-depth that every station has an actual event at it or a game. We are really able to cater to a wide range of kids.”

On the other hand, Ramchandani said she enjoys the return to childhood that the UNICEF club event gives her. She said, “Trick-or-treating is not something that I can really do anymore because of the time commitment, but (Trick or Treat for UNICEF) gives me the opportunity to be a kid again while doing something good.”