Halloween Candy Buy Back at Maple Shade!
Thank You to everyone who donated their Halloween Candy to make this event a success! A big thank-you also to our sponsors, Better Banks, Nick-n-Willys, Landmark, & Crest! We have 300 lbs of candy and counting that will be sent to the troops overseas!
PJSTAR ARTICLE By Ruth Longoria Kingsland (rlongoria@pjstar.com)
Dunlap, IL- Jayce Stone didn’t get to go trick-or-treating Saturday night. The 5-year-old from Peoria Heights was home with the flu. But her good friend Karley Boyer, 8, and Karley’s dad, Kent Boyer, also of Peoria Heights, went door to door and collected candy for Jayce. Now that Jayce is feeling better, the two youths and their dads, Boyer and Shannon Stone, decided to donate the majority of that candy to a good cause.
They and other local families came to Maple Shade Dental Group in Dunlap on Monday afternoon to turn in their candy – well, most of it anyway – as part of the Cash for Candy, Candy Turn In, an event to promote healthy teeth and send treats to the troops. ”I kept some candy,” Jayce admitted, with a wide, relatively cavity-free grin. “I love Pixy Stix, and I kept those.”
The dental office and Better Banks offered $1 per pound for candy turned in at the event, which occurred at both the Dunlap and East Peoria Maple Shade Dental Group offices. The candy will be sent overseas to soldiers serving in the U.S. military through Operation Santa. In addition to giving up their candy, people who showed up for the event were given the opportunity to donate their cash reward, or a portion of it, to Operation Santa to help pay for shipping costs.
“Keep it all, it’s going for the troops,” Boyer said, when he and Karley were asked about the $4 they would have received for their four pounds of candy. That was the response of many of the people who showed up to turn in candy, said Caitlin Willey, marketing director for Maple Shade Dental Group. ”So far, it’s been great and everyone is really happy to help the soldiers,” she said.
More than 100 pounds of the sugary stuff was turned in at the Dunlap office during the first hour of the three-hour event. Local businesses also donated items to put in a candy-free treat bag for each of the children who gave up their candy. The goodie bags included items such as toothpaste, toothbrush, free movie tickets and a coupon for a small pizza. This was the first year the dental office has hosted the event, but it likely won’t be the last, Willey said. ”With so many kids eating so much candy and soda, and so many kids getting tooth decay, we thought this was an awesome way to promote healthy teeth and not eating so much candy. That’s really important, especially around Halloween,” Willey said.
Global sugar consumption by children is about 50 million tons annually and increases by about 2 percent per year, according to information provided by Maple Shade Dental Group.
Dunlap residents Lisa Steinkoenig and her three children, Abby, 10, and Ashley and Jack, both 8, and all three students at Banner Elementary School, turned in seven pounds of candy at the event. Jack said he has a friend at school whose dad is serving in the military in Afghanistan, so when he heard about the chance to help troops by giving up some of his Halloween candy, he was excited to do so. Ashley and Abby also thought the event was a great idea. ”I wasn’t sad to give my candy even though I really like chocolate,” Ashley said. “It’s for the soldiers.”
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