Letter To The Editor: Buyback a success

Posted November 18, 2009 at 9:50 a.m.
Just wanted to let everyone know that our first annual Halloween candy buyback was a great success! The event was held on Nov. 1, 2009 and had a tremendous response from the community.

Bonita Dental Care, Marco Dental Care and Ft. Myers Dental Care all participated in the event. Even though we were paying $1 per pound for candy, we had a overwhelming number of people that just wanted to donate their candy for the cause.

Just in case you didn’t hear about it, see it in the paper or watch it on TV, the event was to benefit our troops serving in hostile areas like the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. Each serviceman or woman get their own box containing a little slice of home. Aside from candy, the troops will receive other donated items from their wish list which was obtained from opgratitiude.com.

Some of the items shipped were toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss (of course), deodorant, playing cards and puzzle books, hats and gloves, nuts and trail mix and small stuffed toys.

The children came in their Halloween costumes, colored pictures and wrote messages and letters of thanks to the troops. Each of the offices had people coming to donate all week long. We are very proud to announce that the final tally was over 500 pounds of candy and donated items!

The candy along with other donated items from the troop’s wish list was shipped out to Operation Gratitude in California Nov. 10.

We couldn’t have done it without help from our generous sponsors, our local news media, and an outpouring of support from our local community. Thank you for making this event a success and doing something truly great for all of those servicemen and women fighting for our freedom.

Stephanie Sullivan, RDH

On behalf of Dr. Fred Eck. D.D.S.

Marco Dental