Local Service Group Collects 10,000 Pounds of Halloween Candy for Troops

A local service group is putting leftover Halloween snacks to good use after collecting about 10,000 pounds of candy to benefit the Treats 4 Troops project.

Last week, Bethesda-based service group MoverMoms organized a candy drive, known as Treats 4 Troops, for U.S. servicemen and women and had an overwhelming response from the area. This year, MoverMoms collected about 2,500 pound more than the drive in 2009, said Rebecca Kahlenberg, co-founder of MoverMoms.

"This year I think we got more organized and got the word out a little earlier," Kahlenberg said. "This year it really exploded as a corporate good citizenship effort and we got donations from more people and more places."

Kahlenberg said that candy donations came from places like fitness clubs, schools, churches, businesses, PTA groups, individuals and families in the area; however, donations even came in from North Carolina and Baltimore County.

Several locations in Montgomery County collected candy for the Treats 4 Troops programs, including in Potomac, which collected 150 pounds of candy, according to the PTA's website.

Herbert Hoover will participate in Treats 4 Troops next year, said Denise Schleckser, a PTA member who led the school's collection.

This year's collection was a last-minute effort and Schleckser said next year she hopes to promote it more and stage a competition between classes to see who can collect the most candy.

All of the candy will go into about 20,000 Christmas stockings for U.S. troops stations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait, as Boatsie's Boxes.

"This project really works because adults want the candy out of the house and this provides a service by getting it out of the house when the kids are done collecting it," Kahlenberg said. "It's also an easy and fun way for people to help the troops and a nice service project to teach kids about giving and sharing."