Future of Dentistry helped provide a sweet surprise for local troops and veterans this month. Every year, the practice collects Halloween candy during the first week of November. With the help of residents throughout the area, we collected a record-breaking 610 pounds of candy this year!
Our “Treats For Troops” effort is an annual tradition at Future of Dentistry. We gather the candy from staff, patients and community members. Then we sort, pack, weigh and transport it to benefit the troops. We also provide a candy buyback, paying $1 per pound for candy when children come in person to donate. While many participants simply donate their treats, the $1 buyback can make it easier for kids to give up their beloved sweets!
Here’s what Dr. Casazza had to say about our “Treats For Troops” program:
“November is the perfect time of year for this program. Kids, and even adults, have far more candy around than is healthy for them or their teeth. And with Veterans Day on Nov. 11, it’s a great time to thank all the men and women who have served or are currently serving our country.”
In addition to breaking our record, we’re excited that this year’s “Treats For Troops” program has an extremely local focus. The troops and vets are all from Massachusetts, and most of them are from the Greater Boston/North Shore area where we’re located. This was possible thanks to community partners: the local VA hospitals; Alicia Reddin of the Melrose-Wakefield-Saugus Veteran Services District; and Paula Berg, a local “booster” of the troops.
Special thanks to the schools and groups who participated. Their amazing efforts generated several hundreds pounds of our overall collection! They include: Barrows Elementary School of Reading, Little Treasures Schoolhouse of Lynnfield, Killam Elementary School in Reading, Baby Boot Camp of Woburn/Winchester, and local Girl Scout/Brownie troops. We also received some very sweet cards and notes from the children to send to the troops and veterans.
This year, we added to the fun by having pools to guess how much candy was collected, one for our staff and one for our patients on Facebook. Congratulations to Dr. Strock for winning our office pool with a guess of 562, and to Linda S. for winning the community contest, with an almost-perfect guess of 600! Both winners will receive gift cards to local businesses. You can view other guesses below.
To learn more about the Halloween candy collection, call 781-245-2299, email to info@futureofdentistry.com, or contact us through www.futureofdentistry.com or www.Facebook.com/FutureOfDentistry.