Sending Halloween Candy to Afghanistan
By Lisa Belkin

As an orthodontist in West Islip, L.I., Dr. Howard Tichler has very mixed feelings about Halloween candy. On one hand, it causes cavities and breaks braces. On the other hand, he personally expects to collect over 2,000 pounds of it in the next few weeks.

Tichler held his first “Candy Buy Back,” last year. He put up a sign in his office stating that he would pay his patients $1 for each pound of candy they brought him in the days after Halloween; word spread, and children were coming in from all over the community. Tichler packed up the collected candy and sent it to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

This year he will be making the offer again, but this time six local elementary schools are involved, and will use the money Tichler pays them to donate to charity. Again the candy itself will go to Afghanistan.

“The children eat less candy, the Marines overseas are given a treat and the students get a chance to give to the community. Everybody wins!” said Dr. Jenny Abraham, Tichler’s orthodontic partner.

For years our boys have hauled their candy home, dumped it on the kitchen counter and then chosen the few dozen pieces they would be allowed to eat at the rate of a one each day. The rest left with my husband the next morning, to be shared with the children he cares for at Mount Sinai Hospital.

What do you do with your Halloween candy? Does all that sugar stay at home, or do you send some of it away?

Ellie