The Missouri Southern Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) collected almost 3,000 pounds of canned food for their annual “Trick or treat, so others can eat,” campaign.

The campaign takes place on the night of Halloween in various neighborhoods around the Joplin area. The student-athletes go door to door collecting canned goods to donate.

“We always go out about a week in advance and place out flyers, just to get people riled up and thinking about it,” SAAC president Sam Pogue said.

“That way if they do go to the store to get any candy or anything that they do for Halloween, they had it in mind when they were going out and they had some ready for us.

“So, it’s kind of cool because when we actually go door to door for canned goods there were people that had massive amounts already waiting for us.”

The SAAC started the campaign three years ago after attending a leadership conference the NCAA puts on in Kansas City.

“The idea was shared in a group session that I was in and I brought it back to our student-athletes and we thought ‘Hey we can do this. We can put this together,’” Associate Athletic Director for Administration and Advisor to SAAC, Julie Wengert said.

“We’re always trying to think of ways to increase how much food we actually bring in for it, knowing that it’s going to go to our local shelters.”

The Southern SAAC collected a total of 2,697 pounds for the We Care for the Four States food pantry, nearly 1,000 pounds more than last year. Next year, SAAC hopes to exceed the amount it raised this year.