Halloween Candy and Charity

This year, children in Graniteville Woods, a neighborhood in Westford MA, used their Halloween candy and their generosity in an act of charity by donating a portion of their Halloween rewards towards benefiting troops in Afghanistan.

High schoolers, Aayush Mehta, Sonia Khamitkar, Mehar Poreddy and Meghana Edpuganti, took it upon themselves to use the holiday to do something positive by organizing a program to collect and gather candy from various residents within Graniteville Woods. In particular, the high schoolers asked children to donate some of their newly discovered chocolate towards relieving the stress in the lives of soldiers rather than relieving the appetite of a twelve-year-old.

The previous year, a similar program was conducted where children of Graniteville Woods donated candy towards the Salvation Army. That year was the pilot year, and yet 30 pounds of candy was still collected.

However, this year, the program ended up collecting 100 pounds of various candies, chocolates, and treats, and then proceeded to donate the candy to the National Guard in collaboration with Radhika Goli, Westford resident also an organizer of this program. The candy was sent via a program known as Operation Care, where “Care packages” of candy and other supplies are sent to troops in Afghanistan to provide a moment of reprieve and joy from the ongoing violence.

In addition, videos of the children and families who have donated were also sent, with a “Thank You” card created by children in the Graniteville Woods School, a non-profit organization that teaches young children key, valuable skills that will be needed later in life.

High schoolers from GVW School will continue community outreach programs such as participating in Operation Care in hopes of improving and helping the lives of others in need.