Candy goes to soldiers in Iraq
Once the Halloween costumes are packed away and the candy is sorted through, Martinez orthodontist David Carter says he gets extremely busy buying candy from his patients.
Each year, Dr. David Carter offers to buy candy that his patients collected on Halloween. This year the orthodontist plans to send the candy to American troops in Iraq who will hand out the candy to Iraqi children.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
This time, he said, he'll send that candy to Iraq.
"This year we decided to give the candy to the troops to give out (to children there)," he said, adding that he sees a lot of military patients.
The idea of buying the candy back is something Carter said he enjoys doing. He even has a name for the venture - the Carter Orthodontic Candy Buy Back Program.
"This is a fun thing (to do) because Halloween is an orthodontist's nightmare," he said.
"What it does is cut down the number of broken brackets and wires that (I) see. It keeps my emergencies down for the month of November and December."
For every pound of candy donated to his office, Carter said, he will personally pay his patients $2.
"These little entrepreneurs come in and I give them $30 for candy," he said with a chuckle. "They must be visiting every house in their neighborhood."
Since the collection began Nov. 1, Carter said, he has collected several trash bags full of candy. At the end of month, he said, the candy will be given to Sandra Christman, a family readiness and group leader for Company A of the 67th Signal Battalion at Fort Gordon.
"We're going to put the candy in her hands, and she's going to put it in the right people's hands to take to Iraq so the (soldiers) can distribute it to children over there," he said.
Since the program began in 1998, Carter said he has given the candy to Boy and Girl Scouts, who in turn sell the candy as a fund-raiser.
But this year, he said, he decided to try something different.
Carter said he is confident in the success of this year's project.
"I know those little kids come up to soldiers and they give them candy," he said. "As long as the troops are over there, I plan to continue giving the candy to them."