If you’re a child in the Detroit area and you’re looking to get rid of your unwanted Halloween candy, then Drs. Kurt Heuerman and Bo Shumaker have a deal for you.  The two men, dentists by trade, have organized a candy-buy-back program to take Halloween candy out of the hands of children and put it into the hands of US troops overseas.  The dentists are paying cash for candy, and increasingly, other dentists are jumping on the bandwagon.  Better to get the candy out of the mouths of over-sugared American children.

Heuerman and Shumaker are working with Operation Gratitude, an organization that sends care packages to US troops overseas.  The two dentists are paying out $2 per pound of leftover candy, which is then shipped to soldiers (along with toothbrushes).  Another dentist with a similar buyback program, Dr. Robert Antolak, ended up with nearly 700 pounds of candy last Halloween season, which he took with him on his yearly trips to perform free dental work in Haiti.

The dentists say that the important thing isn’t the candy as much as it is the thought behind it.  “It shows that we’re thinking about them,” said Heuerman of his candy drive for troops.  Added Antolak of his charity work, “It’s important to be able to give.”

Tags: Detroit, Michigan, cash-for-candy, dentists start candy buying program, dentists buy up candy, dentists buy candy from children, care packages, Operation Gratitude, Kurt Heuerman, Bo Shumaker, unusual programs, unusual charity drives, dentists buying candy

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