On Saturday Oct. 31 the First Year Service Project hosted a Trunk or Treat event for local communities in parking lot 25 at Monmouth University.
Trunk or Treat gives club and Greek organizations on campus an opportunity to provide children in the local communities of Monmouth a safe place to experience the fun of trick or treating. There were 54 trunks filled with candy and over 500 children from the greater Monmouth area that came out to celebrate Halloween at the event
“First Year Service Project was thrilled to be able to provide a safe and fun environment for the community this Halloween. It was so affirming to see all the students hard work come to life and to see that the community was willing to take advantage of the opportunity,” said Katherine Browna, the Coordinator of Transitions and Leadership on campus and the faculty advisor for the First Year Service Project.
There were over 54 cars registered from 26 different club and Greek organizations on campus. Each car was required to decorate their trunk and supply each car with enough candy for 100 people. Each club uniquely decorated their cars with different themes such as Candyland, Fairly Odd Parents, pirates, vampires, and more.
Judges roamed the event to scout out the child or family with the best Halloween costume for the costume contest. First place was awarded to a family that dressed as “Gabriel’s Garden,” in which the family decorated a wagon to look like a garden and the children were dressed up as gnomes and flowers. Second place was given to a young girl dressed up in a homemade peacock princess costume. Third place went to a young boy dressed up as Michael Jackson and the fourth place winner was dressed up as SpongeBob Squarepants.
In addition to the costume contest, there was a trunk competition to find the best decorated trunk from a club or organization on campus. The winner of the competition was the Monmouth University Dance Team who decorated their car to the theme of 101 Dalmations.
First Year Service Project also set up several stations throughout the parking lot with different activities for the children. These activities included a donut eating contest, mummy making, pumpkin painting, a mystery box, and a monster toss.
“Today was a lot of fun and it was really great seeing everyone dancing and passing out candy to the kids. I think it was a great turnout for the first year and I hope it gets bigger and better in the following years,” said Erika Fallon, a senior psychology major and member of Alpha Xi Delta.
Matt Sheehan, a junior business major and member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, supplied music for the event and kept kids dancing the entire time. Behind the DJ stand, the First Year Service Project offered free pizza and refreshment for everyone in attendance.
Deanna Getty, a senior health studies major and the woman responsible for this successful event, said, “I am just so thankful for everybody that came. This is such a group effort so we really could not have done this without the First Year Service Project and the help of all these people that came to get involved. All these kids are just so happy and it is just the most incredible feeling.”
