One of our favorite events here at South OC Dental Group is the Halloween Candy Buy Back. Dr. Carter started it three years ago and it has now become a part of of the entire practice. The goal of the event is to reduce tooth decay and prevent orthodontic breakage. It also demonstrates to children the importance of giving and allows us the opportunity to give back to our community.
The actual event takes place a few days after Halloween when local children bring us their Halloween candy. The candy is sent to Camp Pendleton based Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as a few Orange County food banks. Last year the event was held at our orthodontic location on Monday, November 2nd between the hours of 9am and 6pm. There was a card station set up for kids to create thank you, holiday, or any occasion cards to be shipped to the soldiers with the treats.
Each child could donate up to ten pounds of candy. As a thank you for their donation we passed out goodie bags containing toothbrushes and dental supplies, stickers, Goldenspoon ice cream certificates, Free Drink coupons from TK Burger, and a voucher for a free sandwich at Jersey Mikes. There was also a bigger prize that went to the school PTA who had the most student donations. First Place received $2,000, Second Place $1,000 and Third Place $500. At the end of the day we collected almost 1,000 pounds of candy dropped off by almost 200 kids representing 30 local schools. After the donations were tallied we came up with our winners.
First Place: Castille Elementary
Second Place: De Portola Elementary
Third Place: Foothill Ranch Elementary
The schools were truly appreciative of the donation and it was all because of their students dedication to giving. A special thank you to each and every child and parent who came down that day and made our event such a success. We’ll keep you updated for this years event!
