| Trick-or-treating for those in need |
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| News | |||
| Written by Aaron Cedeño | |||
| Wednesday, 04 November 2009 08:00 | |||
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With the arrival of Halloween on Saturday, the site of costumed kids prowling Louisburg’s streets was a common one. Still, it’s doubtful that one ever expects to open their door in the morning, and find a teenager waiting with a hand outstretched – requesting not candy, but canned goods.  For the second year in a row, the Louisburg High School LEOs Club, a youth branch of Lions Club International, conducted a successful “Trick-Or-Treat For Canned Goods” charity event. In the early hours of Saturday morning, 32 members of the service club piled into their cars and began combing Louisburg’s neighborhoods, soliciting canned goods and non-perishable food items for donation to the Agape Food Pantry. The response, said club vice president Kaitlin Wertz, was nothing short of fantastic. “Even going around you see people who had left out bags with their goods on the porch, which is exciting to see,” the LHS senior said. Last year’s inaugural event brought in two car loads of food, and this year’s haul was even bigger. Perhaps even more exciting, Wertz said, was that so many club members showed up, willing and eager to help. It’s a credit to the charitable spirit of Louisburg’s youth that such was the case, said Mike Steck, of the Agape Food Pantry. “They do things for the community and we’re the beneficiaries,” he said of the pantry’s work. “It makes a difference.” The Agape Food Pantry provides assistance to families and individuals in need within roughly the range of Louisburg USD 416, Steck explained. Much of their supply is purchased from the Harvesters Community Food Network in Kansas City, but right now the shelves are a little empty. Every can of food they receive, through efforts such as this by the LEOs Club, is one less item they have to purchase, he said, meaning another family will have a turkey, or maybe a pumpkin pie, on their table during the holidays. “When you have groups like this that come along and are willing to go through the time and energy it takes to do a door-to-door solicitation, that’s wonderful,” he said. The response from both the club members and the community has Wertz excited. The hope is to ensure that trick-or-treating for canned goods becomes an annual tradition, she said, and it appears they’re well on their way to achieving that goal. “Hopefully it’s something kids continue to do after high school,” Wertz said of charity work. “It’s definitely impacted me and made me want to do more.”
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