Many forces are joining together this Halloween weekend as Iowa State students host a mass trick-or-treating event for the children of Ames.

The Ames-ISU YMCA is inviting all the little ghosts and goblins, along with their families, to join them at the M-Shop in the Memorial Union for a planned evening of house-to-house haunting and events being held at the M-Shop.

Haunted houses and Halloween games will be hosted by the Richardson Court Association; Towers Residence Association; Union Drive Association; the Honors Program; Kappa Kappa Gamma, 120 Lynn Ave.; Sigma Alpha Epsilon, 140 Lynn Ave.; and Alpha Xi Delta, 315 Lynn Ave. Students at each stop will allow kids to trick-or-treat, play games in their lobbies and go through haunted houses at their facilities.

“I was pleased to see unity that developed with the different organizations on campus,” said Cathy Smelser, executive director of YMCA.

Transportation will be provided by CyRide from the Memorial Union, escorting children and their parents to different locations around the ISU campus Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Parents are invited to bring their children to the Maintenance Shop in the Memorial Union to pick up maps and load the buses, or just to receive information on the night’s activities at different locations.

Besides the various campus organizations involved, many outside sponsors will make Sunday’s events possible, including: United Way; the Student Union Board; Pepsi; CyRide; Frito Lay; Sign Pro, 619 S. Fourth St.; and Copyworks, 2502 1/2 Lincoln Way.

As more students wanted to become involved in the community and help with service opportunities, the idea became more exciting, Smelser said. More and more organizations volunteered to do this event.

“The greek community is very excited to do this project with the YMCA, residence hall associations and the Honors Program,” said Heather Kliebenstein, director of special projects for the Panhellenic Council. “We feel that it’s a great way to improve relations and also give back to the community.”

Kliebenstein, senior in environmental science, said it will be interesting to see how it turns out in the end.

“It’s going to be a fun event for both the kids and the student participants,” she said. “It’s a wonderful idea, and hopefully it will be repeated again next year.”

Phil Greco, programming board chairman of South Helser Hall and Westgate Hall, said the event’s organizers have positive expectations.

“We hope we can make this a safe and fun Halloween for the children of Ames,” said Greco, freshman in mechanical engineering. “We hope to see big numbers and even bigger numbers next year.”

Students still can get involved by contacting one of the organizations.