On Monday, Oct. 31 members of Lincoln Southwest Theatre will be collecting canned food in neighborhoods near Southwest. Trick or Treat so Kids Can Eat (TOTS-Eat) is a form of community service that the International Thespian Society partakes in each year. Students will collect the canned goods beginning right after school. 

“Signing up for TOTS-Eat was done at the drama club meeting,” senior Jack Thielen theatre president said. “Afterwards I go through and get to put the groups together based on the list of people who signed up.”

Each year there are around 4-5 groups. The groups have a specific theme to dress up as. The TOTS-Eat event is put on over the course of two days. The first day students go door to door with slips of paper about all the information needed about what the Silver Hawk drama club is doing. The second day happens later on in the month (Oct. 31), that is when students dress up in their groups with their themes. 

“As much fun as TOTS-Eat is, it’s also a great festive way to help out local charities and have fun while doing it,” senior actor Luke Peterson said. “My favorite theme this year is my group’s theme Monsters Inc. Dressing up really gets you in the Halloween spirit and makes you realize how lucky you are to have food on the table and being able to help others who don’t have that opportunity.”

In the past some of the costume themes have included Harry Potter, Spongebob, Lion King, etc. As well as over the past 8 years we have collected as much as 17,000 pounds of food which is roughly 8.5 tons.