Kids & Family

'Hunger is Scary' Drive Collects 1,500 Pounds of Food through Volunteer Trick-or-Treating

Mahwah family organized the drive this Halloween.

This Halloween, the Mahwah community proved that it thinks hunger is scary, and wants to do something about it.

That’s the conclusion Sharon Pushie says she came to after counting the proceeds from the first-ever ‘Halloween is Scary’ Food Drive she and her family started this October in Mahwah.

According to Pushie, the drive was able to collect 1,409 food items, or about 1,500 pounds of food, that will all be donated to the Center for Food Action in Mahwah this week.

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The drive also collected $1,370 that will be donated to the CFA, as well.

The idea behind the drive was to have volunteers go trick-or-treating around town, and instead of collecting candy, asking residents to donate non-perishable food items to the collection.

Find out what's happening in Mahwahwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We had seven Confirmation candidates from Immaculate Conception Church in Mahwah, three students from Mahwah High School's Interact Club, and seven others throughout town trick-or-treating on Halloween,” Pushie said.

Mahwah Junior Football, the Mahwah Senior Center, the Dunkin Donuts on Macarthur Boulevard, and Creepy Hollow of Mahwah also set up collection boxes during the last few weeks of October.

Pushie said the campaign also received several large donations from the Jeffrey I Simons Charitable Foundation, Inc. and several other large personal donors.

And these results, Pushie said, are just the beginning of what will become a tradition in the township, and elsewhere.

“Last year, two towns in Massachusetts kicked off the first annual ‘Hunger is Scary’ Halloween food drive. This year…Mahwah, Oakland, and Toronto, Canada [joined] the campaign. Pretty cool, huh? In year two, the food drive went international! Who knows how many towns (or countries!) we'll have next year,” Pushie said.


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