Del Dayo Elementary Collects More Than 300 Pounds of Candy for Soldiers Overseas

Throughout the Halloween holiday local dentists and other organizations held candy buy back drives to benefit soldiers overseas and in-need families fill Christmas stockings.

Del Dayo Elementary School in Carmichael was one such organization collecting candy to benefit soldiers overseas. A school official put together the below story and captured some photos of the drive. Here is their story:

Students at Del Dayo Elementary School donated their Halloween candy to America’s service men and women serving in the Middle East. Collectively, Del Dayo students boxed and shipped 306 pounds of candy.

“I am so proud of our students for their generosity,” said Principal Thomas Harp. “This community service project is part of our strategic plan to increase commitment to community service and to promote our students' sense of responsibility, compassion and citizenship.”

Given the school’s active Parent Teacher Organization, serving the community is a natural nexus for our children to learn the importance of service.

Underwritten by local dentist Chris Cantrell of the Sutter Terrace Dental Group, the candy collected will be shipped to Operation Gratitude.

Operation Gratitude is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that sends care packages year-round to service members deployed in harm's way, to their children left behind, to military families and veterans in financial distress due to unemployment, to emergency first responders and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in transition units.

To date, they have shipped over 850,000 care packages to individually-named troops in hostile regions such as Iraq, Afghanistan and onto ships all over the world.

Operation Gratitude was impressed by the volume of candy collected and the selflessness of the students.

“Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness and consideration of Operation Gratitude's patriotic cause. Del Dayo students will be putting smiles on the faces of tens of thousands of service members during a very difficult time away from home and loved ones,” said Dana Chotiner, Director of Development and Corporate Events.

“They and we will be forever grateful. "

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