Riley Avenue Elementary Students Participate in 'Halloween Candy Buy Back' Program

Riley Avenue Elementary School students participated in a “Halloween Candy Buy Back” sponsored by Bach/Grazina East End Orthodontics dental office.

The students at Riley collected a total of 542 pounds of candy to send to the soldiers overseas; 80 pounds from the kindergarten class, 109 pounds from the first grade class, 100 pounds from the second grade class, 99 pounds from the third grade class and 154 pounds from the fourth grade class.

Art teacher Melissa Haupt and the Riley Avenue Student Council helped coordinate the effort.

“The Candy Buy Back for the troops was a huge success,” Haupt said.

Dina Reilly, the Patient Advocate from Bach/Grazina Orthodontists, came to Riley Avenue to weigh the candy the students gave up from their Halloween stash.

Bach/Grazina offered to pay for the shipping costs to send the candy overseas and to reward the students for their generosity by buying the candy from them, according to Haupt.

“The candy isn’t just for the soldiers,” she said. “The soldiers give it to the children they meet during their deployment, so a lot of it goes to kids all around the world. Our students loved that idea.”

According to Dina Reilly from Bach/Grazina, all together, the office collected over 4,000 pounds of candy for our troops.