More than 200 University of Illinois Springfield students helped to collect 15,779 pounds of food to help fight hunger in central Illinois on Halloween night. The majority of the food, 14,779 pounds, will be donated to Central Illinois Foodbank, while 1,000 pounds will go to the on campus UIS Cares Food Pantry.

A total of 11 teams, consisting of 228 students, went door-to-door in several Springfield neighborhoods collecting canned goods and other non-perishable food items.

Last 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 Tri-Sigma sorority collected 2,191 pounds of food in the Westwood Forum subdivision. Phi Kappa Tau fraternity students collected 2,122 pounds of food in the Mill Creek subdivision.

For a fourth year, the UIS Cox Children’s Center participated in the fun by having the children in costume Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods on campus. The children collected 1,000 pounds of food for the UIS Cares Food Pantry.

Central Illinois Foodbank, established in 1982, distributes 9 million pounds of food annually to more than 160 food pantries, soup kitchens, residential programs and after-school programs in a 21-county region.

The UIS Cares Food Pantry, located in the Student Affairs Building, was started in 2016 as a way to help students with food insecurity on campus.

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.