If you see high schoolers out on Halloween trick or treating for canned food, don’t be afraid to give. They’re collecting donations for a cause.

Austin High School’s in the race once again to raise the most amount of food for the second annual Channel One Student Food Drive. AHS, which won last year’s competition by collecting 12,000 lbs. in food, will be pushing to collect just as much if not more this year.

Channel One Food Bank and Food Shelf is hosting the competition, which is between 20 schools across southeast Minnesota this year. Area schools collected about 53,000 lbs. of food last year, according to Maggie Parham of Channel One, with Tyson Foods distributing about 28,000 lbs. of protein amongst the schools to give to their local food shelves.

While AHS is the reigning champ of the contest, they face steep competition from Chatfield and Kasson-Mantorville, Parham said. The contest is based on which school can collect the most lbs. of food per student, giving smaller schools a chance at winning.

“It’s really important to engage high school students in the commitment to feed the hungry,” Parham said.

Sharon Alms, AHS’s National Honor Society adviser, agrees. That’s why the NHS is among several student groups, including the Chemical Health Action Initiative and AHS’s student council, that are encouraging students to get as much donated food as they can.

Students brought in food during the annual Homecoming Battle of the Connects for extra points, Alms said. The last Volleyball home game on Oct. 19 will be free to anyone who brings in two non-perishable food items or more.

High schoolers will be out trick or treating for donations on Halloween in one of the big donation events planned, according to Alms. AHS’s Youth Leadership, which normally collects food shelf donations, has given permission for students to sign up and get more kids on routes across the town. While Alms won’t know how many students are participating until later on this week, at least two dozen students will be out and about on Halloween, if not many more.

“High schoolers love to go trick or treating, but they’re obviously too old to be doing it,” Alms said. “This lets them go out again.”

The Connects at AHS will be holding another food drive week between Oct. 25 and 29, just before Channel One’s competition ends on Nov. 5. At that point, all of the food the high school collects will be shipped to Channel One in Rochester to be weighed. As each school collects food for their own local food shelves, AHS’s food will be shipped back to the Austin branch of the Salvation Army, to be distributed amongst needy community members.

If AHS should win yet again, the school will receive $1,000 along with $100 AHS gets for participating. Yet participating in the competition means more than just a check, according to Alms.

“(It opens) the eyes of students to service,” Alms said. “(It gives) back to a community that is very generous to our schools, and (raises) awareness of the need for donations in our community.”