Check out our Inspiring 9/11 News Segment
A big green checkmark goes next to our Packathon’s lofty goals. To commemorate the 21st anniversary of 9/11, we had a spirited group of volunteers come together to pack care packages for our deserving troops. Just think about the smiling faces digging into a big care package stuffed to the brim with treats such as jerky, Girl Scout Cookies, personal care items, coffee, candy, protein bars and more.
That’s right folks, many might have forgotten our military is currently deployed all over the world, but you haven’t and it shows. Thank you to our dedicated volunteers who assembled and ship care packages for shipping.
By honoring our citizens who lost their lives due to cowardly and senseless acts of terrorism, we affirm our unity and strength. Our armed forces continue to make daily sacrifices on behalf of our nation.
We can never forget the events of 9/11 nor let something like that every happen again God Bless our Troops for keeping us safe! Thank you to all of our supporters, volunteers and patriots who make our Packathon a great success every single year!
It’s Not a Trick! Give Us Your Treats!
Sweet Swap and National Halloween Candy Buyback
Its that time of the year again and we are gearing up for our Halloween Candy Buy Back. Starting in 2013, Move America Forward started our Halloween Candy Buyback Program with help from Surf Side Dental and the Lakeview PTO at Lakeview Elementary School in El Dorado Hills, CA. Since this we have only grown by becoming the charity partner for the National Halloween Candy Buy Back Program and the Sweet Swap Campaign!
With the help of this these two amazing efforts we accept candy and dental hygiene donations nationwide to meet the need for our military care packages downrange.
The National Halloween Candy Buyback Program is a national effort started by Dr. Chris Kammer to help get the candy off the streets and our kids mouths right into the hands of our troops!
“Move America Forward is a valued partner to the “Halloween Candy Buyback” by making sure our candy goes where it is needed most! They make it easy for anyone to easily participate in this great event.” said Dr. Chris Kammer, D.D.S, founder of the official Halloween Candy Buyback.
“In addition, childhood obesity and dental health is an every growing concern in our country, so programs like the Halloween Candy Buyback are needed more than ever in 2022.”
New this year we are partnering with My Social Practice, a dental marketing company who runs the “Sweet Swap” Campaign. Each year they create a Halloween Candy Buyback Campaign called a “Sweet Swap”. and provide a set of digital assets to help a small business design, kick-off, and promote a Halloween candy buyback campaign. The campaign materials are free to download at this link.
I recently spoke with Adrian Lefler, the Vice President of My Social Practice, who told us “The Sweet Swap campaign has helped hundreds of medical practices, especially dentists, to get involved in supporting the troops. The Sweet Swap campaign chose Move America Forward as their 501c3. And we’re excited to be working with them.”
If you need some help kicking off your candy buyback campaign this year, why not download the Sweet Swap Materials? They’re complimentary and will help make this year your best for a candy buyback event. The social media signs are designed to help take photos when the children bring candy to swap.
We work with a number of different Halloween Candy Buy Back efforts nationwide to provide and fulfill care package requests with our boxes full of spooky Halloween themed treats! Thanks to all of these combine efforts we are able to make sure our troops know they are loved and not forgotten even if they are not home to trick or treat for candy themselves!!
For more information check out our National Halloween Candy Buy Back page. You can also send your candy directly to the Move America Forward Operation Center at 3105 Fite Circle, Suite 108, Sacramento CA 95827.
Featured Product: Let’s Make a Deal
We strive to ensure our care packages offer our troops a good balance of necessities as well as treats. Recently one of our volunteers and troops supporter Jill was able to get a hold of our friends at Red Hawk Casino and get 1400 decks of cards donated!
These are genuine casino playing card decks that will make quite a few of our servicemembers free time much more enjoyable playing rummy, spades solitaire or any number of card games! We cant thank Jill or Red Hawk enough for this wonderful gift.
While we cannot guarantee a winning hand, we are please to offer a bit of cheer and who knows, maybe some lucky troop will hit the jackpot!
MAF Receives It’s 9th Consecutive Top-Rated Great Nonprofits Award
We are pleased to announce our streak is intact. Once again, MAF receives honors as a recipient of the prestigious Top-Rated Award by GreatNonprofits for 2022. This marks our 9th straight year of receiving this recognition.
We strive to deliver quality care packages for our troops. Additionally, we want a great experience for our volunteers and supporters. This Top-Rated Nonprofit Award was based on the large number of positive reviews that Move America Forward received. Individuals post their personal experience of volunteering or their experiences as being a supporter. Of course, we also love accounts of personal experiences of our deployed troops who have received care packages from our organization.
“We will continue our goal of supporting our troops and making MAF a truly memorable experience for our troops serving far from home” said MAF spokesman Scott Raab. “Thanks to GreatNonprofits, our supporters can feel confident that our mission is being carried out to the best of our abilities. From start to finish we are all in for our troops.”
Photo of the Month Presents Custom Cornhole
“We are very proud of our military, proud of our country. It has always felt right to us to stand behind those men and women who are serving. We know the sacrifices our military is making for us, so if a small thing like a cornhole game can provide them with some fun and socialization and a little competition , then for us, it’s a no-brainer” — Becky Schwartz of OV Cornhole
Thanks to our friends Joe & Becky Schwartz at OV Cornhole, Troops deployed to this location will have these awesome custom cornhole boards to help pass the time!