By Emily Glazer The Daily Northwestern

“The trick is finding out how to make a difference, the treat is knowing that you did.”

That is the message on the 1,000 one-dollar bills used in the “Trick or Treat for Oprah” event, led by Lauren Roach, a Communication senior.

Roach received a $1,000 debit card to help others from a philanthropy event sponsored by Oprah Winfrey. But Roach decided $1,000 was not enough, so she formed a Halloween-themed fundraiser to increase the amount she has to give.

Interested students will go trick-or-treating today. But instead of receiving candy, they will try to “trade” a dollar for two or more dollars in order to make the money grow. Each person who signs up will be given a specific area of the North Shore to trick-or-treat.

Students who choose to participate will meet at Deering Field between 4 and 9 p.m. and can stop whenever they want, as long as they return to the field to bring back the money they have collected in donations.

Students should travel outside of Evanston so they do not visit the same home more than once, Roach said. They should also bring money for public transportation.

There also will be flyers for families that want to make sure their donations to trick-or-trading are tax-deductible.

After Roach applied to an Oprah Kindness Challenge online last week, she was chosen to participate in the show’s “Gift of Giving Back” Challenge, in which Oprah gave each audience member a $1,000 debit card funded by Bank of America’s “Keep the Change” program.

“I’m a pretty big Oprah fan,” Roach said. “It’s kind of embarrassing.”

Oprah challenged the audience members to “open their hearts” and spend money on people other than family members.

“Imagine the love and the kindness you can spend with $1,000,” Oprah said on the show, which aired Monday.

The audience was chosen based on online applications. There were people from all over the United States and about five were from Illinois, Roach said.

Oprah also gave audience members a Sony DVD Handycam to record their own stories of how they used the money.

Roach said she was thrilled when she found out she had been chosen for the show but decided her $1,000 needed to be larger in order to make a real difference.

She brainstormed ideas with friends before finally coming up with “Trick or Treat for Oprah,” because Halloween is already a community-oriented holiday.

In just two days, with the help of her friends, Roach conducted an “exhaustive publicity” campaign to get her message out as best she could.

Roach is aiming for 200 people to volunteer and said she hopes each person will make $5, raising $5,000 overall.

“I’m looking forward to having students across campus volunteer their time for what Lauren is doing,” said Quinton Sprull, a Medill sophomore. “Go trick-or-trading – there’s no benefit from it besides the fact that you’re helping someone else.”

Roach said she plans to donate the money to an Evanston family in need.

Aurelia Clunie, a Communication junior and friend of Roach, asked her mother to help choose the family because she lives in Evanston and has spoken with education administrators to locate an appropriate family for the fundraiser.

“I didn’t realize the surprisingly large number of needy families,” Roach said.

This is not the first time Roach has been involved in community service. She is the party co-chair for Suitcase Party, secretary for the International Youth Volunteer Summit and was the philanthropy chair in Jones Residential College last year.

“It’s nice to give away money, but I always want to give more,” Roach said.

Reach Emily Glazer at [email protected].