Richmond-area dentists to host Halloween candy buyback events
Trick-or-treaters with too many treats can spread the sweet wealth overseas -- and get a little cash for themselves.
Several Richmond-area dentists are hosting Halloween candy buyback events, with most of them paying $1 a pound for extra Halloween candy.
Candy collected at the dentists' offices will go to Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization that operates out of the California Army National Guard office in Van Nuys, Calif.
"Last year we received 20 tons. We're expecting a lot more this year. At least twice as many dentists have called about it," said Charlie Othold, a volunteer at Operation Gratitude's main office.
The candy will be added to care packages for individual soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and on ships off the coast, Othold said. Unit commanders submit the names when troops are deployed.
Each year, about 100,000 packages go out with items such as movies, video games, toothpaste, deodorant, T-shirts, hats, Girl Scout cookies and candy. Between now and Christmas, the 500,000th package will go out, he said.
Two local dentists, Boyle Dentistry on Mechanicsville Turnpike and Dr. Vicki Tibbs in Quinton, will have festivals tomorrow afternoon to collect candy. Others have set up times next week.
Tibbs' office on Pocahontas Trail has partnered with neighboring businesses to raffle off a gift every 15 minutes between 2 and 5 p.m. There, children will get raffle tickets instead of dollars for their candy. Activities will include a bounce house, face painting and making cards to send with their candy.
"We hope to give the kids an awareness of what's really going on in our country, to be able to give back," said office manager Carretta Murray.
At Boyle Dentistry, the celebration from 2 to 4 p.m. tomorrow will also include a costume contest. Activities will include face painting, crafts, and writing cards to the troops. In addition to the $1 per pound for candy, the office will raffle some prizes from area businesses.
Dr. Brent Rusnak will bring out his scales Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at his office on East Parham Road.
"I'm kind of excited," he said. "We'll be there with our dollar bills and our scale and we'll see. I'm wondering how many dollar bills I need to get.
"I just think the whole message is good. Anything in moderation is fine. A lot of it can cause some damage."
Dr. John Flowers, who will buy back candy on Monday from 4 to 6 p.m., said Children's Dentistry of Virginia gave out more than $100 last year.
"It worked really well," he said.
"It does a lot of good for getting some of the candy away from the kids, and it does a lot of good for the troops," he said. "It's a little taste of home to remind them that people back here care about what they're doing for the country."
Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or
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Reader Reactions
I find it truly disturbing that someone can try to do something good for the men and women serving this country and people will still find a problem with it. The candy that is collected will be added to care packages that will be sent to our troops stationed all around the world. These care packages will contain many items in addition to the candy.
Children in the states can sometimes get several pounds of candy on Halloween. It would be unhealthy for a child to consume that much candy in such a short period of time. This allows the children to give back a portion of what they have collected. You are trying to say that adding a little candy to a care package that is sent to our service men and women is bad. That is ridiculous and you should be ashamed of yourself. I also find it insulting that you say that our service men and women are low income Americans that are unable to care for themselves. I know many men and women who have served this country and they were intelligent individuals who loved their country and wanted to serve. I applaud them for their service. If you feel strongly that our troops are being mistreated with the care packages then why don’t you come up with an alternative instead of complaining about what others do for them.
If anyone reads the message from nyscof and doubts the impact that these care packages have on our troops then I would urge you to go to http://www.opgratitude.com/index.php and read what the troops themselves have to say.
Thank you Dr. Boyle and Dr. Tibbs! There are many in the community that are grateful for what you did last weekend. I am sure the troops will also be grateful.
Thanks
The real reason kids will hate the Dentist!
contrary to the previous comments, I applaud the people doing this!
Yeah, this is comically ironic. When I saw the article headline I thought for sure it was so they would destroy the tooth rotting candy. Amazing and hypocritical.
Why are dentists shipping teeth-corroding candy to our troops? Is it a way to just get rid of the candy? Our troops deserve better than to receive health-robbing candy that’s probably been picked over anyway by the kid, their parents and others.
Our troops tend to be low-income Americans who suffer the greatest amount of decay and whom dentists refuse to treat when they are civilians. 80% of dentists refuse Medicaid patients and 130 million Americans lack dental insurance.
It’s another one of those dentist illusions like the one where the put fluoride in the water and claim they are helping poor people whom they will not allow in their dental chairs. It’s good PR for the dentist but really bad for the patient.
A Florida has lost all but 17 teeth must take Lidocaine for pain. A Medicaid patient, she has been turned down by 62 dentists.
Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old boy died from the complications of a cavity gone unfilled when about two dozen dentists refused to treat him
Earlier this month in Michigan, a 76-year-old woman died after being denied Medicaid coverage for surgery to remove infected teeth.
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