Halloween Candy from the USA to India – 2024

Today I will write about the donation of Halloween Candy Nov 2024 from St John School in Wellesley, MA along with the St John School in Boston, MA.  

 

Both of these GREAT Schools have been part of our Angels Candy Program for many years. 

 

Katy McDonagh of Natick, MA is the person from Children are Angels from Heaven that coordinates with the Principals of Both Schools in Boston’s North End  Principal Ms. Ann Marie Quezadra, and in Wellesley Principal Siobhan Mahoney, for the date of the Halloween Candy collections and the pick up times by Katy.

 

After working with each school for many years much of the work has become routine. The children donate their Halloween candy and the school staff puts it all in big boxes. When the Candy is picked up and delivered to Patty OBrien at her home in Medford, MA by Katy.   Patty OBrien sorts out every piece of candy. It is then put into USPS mailing boxes to ship. Each Box weighs approximately 10 to 12 pounds. 

 

From here the candy is brought to the US Post Office and sent to many places all around the USA. Some of the Halloween Candy is distributed to Children, Seniors, Soldiers and Homeless people at Thanksgiving and some of it is used at Christmas for a wonderful Youth Project in Pittsfield, NH. 

 

Twenty Five Pounds of the candy was saved this year for me to bring to India this year in Nov 2024 to bring to local schools and children in India. So you can see the candy was extended to many places in need during the Holiday Season and that it takes many people to complete the Candy process from Principals, Teachers and Volunteers in the USA , as well as Principals, Teachers, Volunteers and Sisters in India. Both sides of the world work to make it work and be beautiful, One smile at a time.

 

I can tell you this first hand. Every piece of the candy from the School Students of Both of the St Johns Schools made thousands of people smile … It is a wonderful program and I give a huge Thank You to everyone connected with this small program.  The Halloween Candy project was started in 2004 and continues to this day. Below you will see a list of where the candy was sent to this year.

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1. Soldiers Angels – San Antonio, TX

2. Pine Street Inn – Boston, MA 

3. Mother Teresa Shelter – Corpus Christi, TX 

4. For The Troops – Simi Valley, CA 

5. Bedford VA Hospital – Bedford, MA 

6. Pittsfield, NH Youth Workshop – Pittsfield, NH 

7. Pine Haven Boys Center – Allenstown, NH 

8. Operation Shoe Box for the Troops – Belleview, FL 

9. Pittsfield NH Seniors Center – Pittsfield, NH 

10. Suncook Valley Seniors Center – Allenstown, NH

11. Many Children in India 

 

Before I end my mail today …Let me tell you about one place in a small town in NH and what they do with our Candy at Christmas.

   

Pittsfield Youth Workshop in Pittsfield NH  Written by Zach Powers Executive Director

The gingerbread house contest is an annual event that the youth look forward to each year. We’ve been doing it for close to 25 years, and it has become quite the tradition and can be quite competitive. All of the supplies are donated by local groups and grocery stores (Hannaford, Shaw’s, etc), and we sell raffle tickets to raise funds for our program. We display the gingerbread houses at the Annual Tree Lighting event that takes place here at PYW on the first Saturday of December. This community event includes photos with Santa, a potluck, cookies and cocoa, along with hayrides before the trees are lit in Dustin Park. Along with the decorated gingerbread houses, we also raffle off kits that families can put together and decorate for themselves. Winners of the raffle get to take one of the houses home, although we often get one or two given back to us for the kids to enjoy! 

The youth sign up ahead of time in teams of 3-4 and we generally have 6-8 gingerbread houses created each year. We also award prizes to the teams that show the most creativity, teamwork, and commitment. This past year, the Friendly Diner donated gift certificates which were awarded to these teams.

 

Below you will find Two photos of the Halloween Candy of the Pittsfield Youth Workshop and an attachment of the Halloween Candy in Kolkata and Rourkela Orissa India