Every year, over a million candies go to waste on HalloweeN.
 

Throughout my childhood, I remember coming home from Halloween with more candy than I could count. The first week, I would feast on candy after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After one week, though, every year, my candy would mysteriously disappear - I now know my parents had thrown it all out. How could they throw out the delicious candy that children all over the world crave? Every year, more than a million candies go to waste. This isn't just unfair to the children; it is a waste of food, food which gives energy, a waste of resources, and money.

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I want to stop this, so I STARTED CANDYFORKIDS.​

 

It started 9 years ago, and at first, it was a small action that my family and I did. We saved candies from Halloween and gave them to less fortunate kids in goodie bags, while on vacation. In the following years, I shared this idea with my community, and they would give me their Halloween candy to donate.
In 2018, I made this an actual charity, I created a logo, website, and started spreading word. I reached out to my middle school and got many students to donate their Halloween candy, and I got my friends who were travelling to emerging countries to give out goody bags to the children there.

Unfortunately, in 2020, I wasn't able to collect candy due to the Covid-19 pandemic; instead, I decided to raise awareness about education in developing countries and collected donations. With the raised money, I covered 2 children’s education expenses through the organisation named “nanhikali.org”.

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Since then, CandyForKids has come back stronger than ever. In 2022, we handed out excess candy in the Domincan Rupublic. In 2023, we handed out candy goodie bags in Mexico. Recently, in 2024, CandyForKids has helped by distributing candy to an orphanage for girls who are blind.

       
I am proud to see how far CandyForKids has become and am excited to see where it will go.