More than 100 crates of food were handed out to food banks on Monday, thanks to a Halloween donation scheme called Trick or Eat, which returned for a fourth year.
Residents laid out boxes outside their shops or homes for trick or treaters to donate food, which were then collected by Hackney Foodbank and PL84U AL-SUFFA food bank in Waltham Forest. At least 30 businesses and 70 households across the two boroughs took part in the scheme.
Jenna Fansa, who runs Trick or Eat, said that this year’s campaign had been timely, with demand at Hackney Foodbank up 125% since last year in the wake of worsening cost-of-living crisis.
“They’d usually have schools doing harvest collecting at this time of year but many haven’t happened,” said Fansa. “Their donations are down 53% on last year.”
“A lot of people can’t even afford to heat food so food banks are asking for things like corned beef and giving out no-heat food parcels.”
Trick or Eat would help take the pressure off the food bank, which had fallen a “week and a half behind” in getting parcels out to people, said Fansa.
“Our living room has been filled twice over [with the food],” Fansa said. “The food banks collected them from us and the warehouse staff were skipping around because they were so chuffed.”
Trick or Eat was able to collect more than eight tonnes of food from 2019 to 2021.
“Lockdown happened and Trick or Eat came into its own as people couldn’t do normal trick or treating,” Fansa said. “It then became embedded in the calendar of what people do in the area each year.”
Tanya Whitfield, head of services at Hackney Foodbank, said Trick or Eat had always made “a big difference” each year. The team behind the scheme, she said, always “puts considerable effort into running this event and we’re always moved to tears by the response”.
