October 2019 Newsletter

Halloween candy buy back treats our troops to tons of goodies

On Halloween children all over the nation take to the streets costumed as their favorite super hero, princess, ghost or goblin and eagerly travel door to door collecting sacks full of bounty. The doorbell rings, and the battle cry of \”Trick-or-Treat!\” fills the night. Read More…

This Halloween ritual is familiar to children and parents and celebrated eagerly from generation to generation. We love Halloween, it\’s fun and dumping our giant candy haul eagerly searching for our favorite treats is exciting, who doesn\’t love candy?

In reality, who really wants their kids consuming pounds and pounds of sugar? Intrepid trick-or-treaters often return home with nearly a garbage can full of treats. So do we allow our kids to stuff their faces day after day or do we consider a win-win opportunity that affords us a chance to offload some of those sweet treats for a good cause? Why not consider the Candy Buy Back as an option for at least some of your excess treats? As a bonus it let our kids put a few extra bucks in their piggy banks and do something truly special for our troops at the same time. There is something to be for teaching our children at a young age to think beyond themselves.

So how exactly does the Candy Buy Back work you may wonder. Well, it\’s quite simple, participants, usually dental offices, buy back Halloween candy at a scheduled event. Check with your provider to see their buy back date, traditionally November 1, but dates can vary. The dental office will often host a fun event where they weigh the candy and exchange it for cash, xylitol products, coupons, toothbrushes, etc. – They can partner with local businesses to give away coupons for food, services or goods, and usually have a place set up for the kids to write a personal note to accompany their treats They can give away hygiene kits or coupons for their office as well!

The dentists then ship, at their own expense or through local donations all their collected candy and notes of good wishes and support to a select group of military support operations. Move America Forward is very proud to continue our partnership with the Candy Buy Back Program. Since 2013 when we received our first donation from a Candy Buy Back program MAF has proudly partnered to ensure our troops receive extra candy and notes of love in their care packages thanks to children, families, dental practices and caring individuals throughout the county.

For extra good news, if you just don’t have a Candy Buy Back near you or don’t have the time to make it to one of their events, you can still send your excess candy directly to us, we will be happy to take it off your hands!  Just check out the information here to contribute.

It\’s fun, it\’s easy and our troops will thank you for your thoughtful contribution when they open a MAF care package made just for them full of extra Halloween goodies in addition to our regular care package items which can range from coffee, cookies, personal care items, socks, reading material, premium jerky and more.

Our Candy Buy Back is underway for this year, but we thought we would share some great photos from our past Candy Buy Back events. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

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It\’s fall ya\’ll!

We love, love, love celebrating Fall! Hay rides, apple cider, bonfires and family fun! Americans love tradition and we at Move America Forward do our best to bring just a small piece of our beloved traditions to our deployed troops. It\’s our way of letting our troops know we have their backs. Read more…

With Halloween is just around the corner we turn our imagination to little ways to help our troops who serve far from home and to celebrate, our packages will include yummy seasonal goodies for our troops to help them celebrate too!  Halloween candy and apple cider  and even seasonal coffee to bring a much needed taste of fall to our Halloween packages in addition to all our regular care package items like boot socks, beef jerky and personal care items.  This small act reminds our troops that even though they can’t be here to celebrate with their own little goblins, we can do our part and pass along the love and treats to show that we stand by our men and women and support their sacrifice and service.

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October, November and December bring a trifecta of celebrations with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The festive season will bring a welcome uptick in support for our troops, but Christmas  is still over two months away and some of these brave men and women never see packages from home. Can you imagine how lonely it can be to never hear your name called out during mail call? Don’t let that happen to our troops!  Please take a moment to send a package now, and we will include the treats our troops miss, and even a great letter of support from you.

Dr. Chris Kammer DDS, the rockin\’ dentist behind the Halloween Candy Buy Back

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Dr. Chris Kammer DDS is the fun, hip dentist behind the Halloween Candy Buy Back, a fascinating mix of science and creativity who has been recognized by his peers as “America’s Favorite Dentist.” He is a founding member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and has auditioned for American Idol. Read More… 

Yes, Dr. Kammer auditioned for American Idol where he performed his not-quite-a-hit with the judges personal anthem \”Get Out the Brush\” in his signature glitter suit while brandishing a giant toothbrush and some styling cool guy shades.

Even though Randy advised Dr. Kammer to \”Sing in your car only, with the windows up!\” Dr. Kammer, left undaunted, still determined to get his message on the importance of dental health out there. Almost two decades ago Dr. Kammer was writing a weekly press release for October and was trying to come up with a theme when it was suggested he write about kids and cavities since it was October and with Halloween coming why not.

Dr. Kammer\’s immediate response was \”No! My mind went to this place where we needed something different. I started thinking about Halloween, and all that candy, so what can we do with this?\” From their Dr. Kammer decided to do a Halloween Candy Buy Back, he didn\’t invent the idea, he candidly pointed out during our conversation, but after his first candy drive he decided \”This is something big, people want to do this, from there I built a web site and made it easy for dentists to do this in their own practices.\” With the Halloween Candy Buy Back well into its second decade, and still going strong, we are so happy Dr. Kammer decided to focus his attentions to a great cause that benefits our great troops.

Dr, Kammer said choosing the troops to benefit from the candy collection was a \”no-brainer\” and even when he is occasionally meet with criticisms from well intentioned individuals who feel candy is an unhealthy thing to send the troops, Dr. Kammer is confident a little sweet treat now and then, especially in an adult who knows how to take care of their oral health is just fine. \”I think the benefit of our troops being able to enjoy a little sweet treat from home is important, these people are out there risking their lives, and it is important for us to support our troops.\”

With thousands of pounds of candy being collected and donated each year, MAF is honored to help Dr. Kammer continue his mission of supporting our troops in a fun, creative manner which allows kids to pay it forward in a meaningful and memorable way. Thanks Dr. Kammer, Rock On!

California state employees can support Move America Forward through Our Promise

Our Promise is a California state run program which allows state employees the right and opportunity to donate to a nonprofit directly through a payroll deduction that comes directly from their payroll account. Once an employee chooses a nonprofit as their designated organization, their deduction will be automatic and roll over from year to year. What could be simpler?

According to the Our Promise Website https://www.ourpromiseca.org/ \”Thanks to the generosity of California state employees over the last 60 years, the Our Promise initiative has shown our commitment and dedication to communities; its impact is truly historic, and has been the single largest effort among almost 300,000 state employees to support charitable programs. This is our promise to California. Every day. All year.

If you are a California State employee, your enrollment period runs from September 1 through October 31, so their is time to set up your donation and designate Move America Forward. It\’s easy to set up, just follow this link https://www.ourpromiseca.org/give and in three easy steps you will be all set up to support. Just select Move America Forward by typing in our name in the Find a Nonprofit search field. Payroll deductions can be made for as little as $5.00 per month.

If you are a California state employee, please consider California based Move America Forward when choosing your support for this years donation season.

Photo of the month — Check out the perfect form

MAF\’s Outreach Director Scott Raab cheers on this budding Corn Hole champion at the Racho Cordova Business Expo. What a fun way to spread our news about the importance of troop support. Just check out that awesome care package on the table next to Scott.