Students spend Halloween collecting food for others

VANCEBORO — When a Food Lion shopper came out of the store on Saturday with a canned food donation, a green caterpillar and Alice from Lewis Carroll’s story “Alice in Wonderland” burst into applause.

The two costumed characters were West Craven High School seniors Lamair Bryan and Tori Richmond, who collected cans at the store on Halloween as part of the “Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat” food drive.

The drive is a national community service program of the honorary theater organization International Thespian Society, and the students in West Craven’s member group, Thespian Troupe 7226, participated for the first time this year.

Both Lamair and Tori are in the troupe, explaining that they love acting and stepping into the shoes of another character.

Lamair said he plans to audition for the March performance of “The Worst High School Play in the World” by William Gleason.

“We like acting, and stepping into character and being someone else for a day or two,” Lamair said.

Tori has been cast as Jane Bennet in the November performance of “Pride and Prejudice,” a play adapted by Jane Kendall, and although the role wasn’t her first choice, she has warmed up to it.

“She doesn’t want to judge anyone or bring any harm, so I like that about her,” Tori said of Jane.

For the food drive, Tori wore her costume from when she performed for the theater group in “Alice in Wonderland,” and Lamair got his from the school’s costume storage room. Neither minded giving up their Saturday to collect canned food donations.

“We wanted to help kids,” Lamair said, from inside the green caterpillar costume that had 10 green arms and 10 black-gloved hands.

In addition to collecting cans at Food Lion, members of the troupe are trick or treating for food donations tonight in several neighborhoods in Trent Woods and River Bend.

Siobhan Gaestel, the English and theater teacher at the school, said the students delivered fliers to the homes where the students planned to go door-to-door.

The students also collected goods in a food drive at the school this week, Gaestel said, explaining that the food will be delivered to the Greenville branch of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

“I’m excited, I think it will be fun,” Tori said of trick or treating for canned food. “You can be collecting things that can be benefiting other people, and that’s always a good thing.”

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.