SAAC hosts its Trunk or Treat event for Make-A-Wish

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SAAC hosts its Trunk or Treat event for Make-A-Wish

Hillsdale’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee held its annual Trunk or Treat philanthropy event to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation for the second year in a row, nearly doubling the money it raised last year.

On Sunday, nearly 100 student-athletes dressed in costumes came out to the parking lot across from the Roche Sports Complex to hand out candy from the back of their Halloween-decorated cars to children from around the community.

“We set up the cars in a large circle, a path where the kids and the families can walk around and then they go to each car which is represented by an organization or sport or fraternity, sorority, or dorm,” Tyler Conrad, junior men’s tennis player and SAAC vice-president said. “It’s like trick-or-treating but with cars instead.”

Senior volleyball player and SAAC President Madie Schider said the goal of the event was twofold: to give children around Hillsdale a fun event where they can connect with the students of Hillsdale, and to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“We basically reached out to all of the elementary and middle schools in the area and told them about the event,” Schider said. “We just said come and if you want to donate to Make-A-Wish, you’re more than welcome to, if not, just come for the experience and meet some of the student-athletes and club members.”

Conrad said that despite a lower turnout from students than last year, the event was still more successful than before.

“We raised over $900 this year, last year we were just under $500,” Conrad said. “We had fewer cars than last year by virtue of other events going on at the same time, so many of the men’s sports and fraternities and male dorms couldn’t participate. We were expecting a pretty similar turnout to last year but our expectations were very wrong, we brought nearly twice the amount of candy as we did last year and cars were still running out.”

SAAC started the event last year to offer local kids an opportunity to still go trick-or-treating in a safe manner as many houses around the community were not participating in the usual Halloween festivities due to the pandemic. 

“It was a COVID-friendly situation, because you weren’t in close contact and obviously we weren’t inside,” Schider said. 

Though COVID-19 restrictions and fears were less of an issue this year, Schider said the turnout was still “incredible,” as more than 750 kids came to the event and nearly 1,500 people total. 

SAAC’s officers attributed part of this success to the smaller stations that they had set up throughout the parking lot.

“We bought some supplies from Meckley’s Orchard and we set up a photo op, a lot of families used that,” Conrad said. “Also the day of the event, we realized that we had a ton of Halloween crafts that had been donated and we set up a table near the photo booth, next year we’re going to try to make that more of a point of emphasis.”

Though organizations of all kinds helped to hand out candy, it was student-athletes in particular that brought many of the cars, according to Conrad.

“We primarily had cars from sports teams, some of the teams, especially the women’s teams, were able to get nearly their entire team out there, which was really great to see,” Conrad said. 

One of the teams that set up a car was the golf team, which set up a putting green where kids could take puts to try to win more candy, Schider said.

“We had this putting mat out that was really popular with the kids, they all wanted to have a go at it,” junior golfer Darragh Monaghan said. “We had one stay where 20 or 30 kids were lined up, ready to have a go at it. It was busy all day and it was good fun.”

As SAAC looks ahead to its next big event, the spring’s ESPY awards, the officers said that they’re confident Trunk or Treat can continue to be an annual staple for them.

“We figure it’ll still be a really great idea to get the kids out there and be able to dress up and walk around, and have it be endorsed by students at the college and fill that gap a little bit,” Conrad said. “And of course it’s also a great way to keep raising money for Make-a-Wish, which is SAAC’s national philanthropy.”