Trick-or-Treat for Good

Halloween is such a fun occasion, so I thought I post on two great ways to trick-or-treat. You'll have fun, get some treats and do a lot of good for a lot of people. If you are preparing to trick-or-treat or to receive trick-or-treaters, consider these ways to trick-or-treat for good :

* Trick-or-treat for Sight Night and collect used glasses that will be recycled "for our international missions to developing countries" The Lions Club and Luxottica Retail, which sponsor the event, "will travel on 12 international missions, where they will work with Lions clubs to hand-deliver free eye exams and used glasses to more than 200,000 people in developing countries." Call SightNight toll-free at 1-877-605-4242 for more information or to order your free collection kit.

* Collect canned goods - Your child's organization can initiate a drive to trick-or-treat for nonperishable foods. Food can then be donated to a local food bank. Or collect clothes or coats for a local shelter. This is a great way to have a direct benefit on your or a neighboring community. It also works well with trunk-or-treat gatherings. Just set aside a separate trunk for canned good or other donations.

* Trick-or-treat for UNICEF and be a part of a 56-year tradition of helping children worldwide. Collect monetary donations that will save and improve lives. For example, "30¢ provides lifesaving antibiotics for a child suffering from pneumonia. $1 immunizes a child against the deadly disease measles. $10 provides enough high-protein biscuits to feed three hungry children for one month." Kits are available in the US, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Canada . Call UNICEF toll-free at 1.800.4UNICEF for more information or to order your free collection kit.

* Give fair trade chocolates to the trick-or-treater at your door. That way your gift will help cocoa farmers earn a living. Or scrap the candy all-together in favor or non-food items. Check out your local dollar store for unique gifts that kids with diabetes and some other conditions will really appreciate.

These are just a few of the ways you and your child can make a difference this Halloween. And that's what every day and holiday should be about.

"Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance." - Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), German-born U.S. political philosopher