The third-grade girls in Brownie Troop 41167 aren’t just good with cookies. They’re rather impressive when it comes to Halloween candy, too.
The 22 girls at Horace Mann School in Oak Park decided to send their leftover Halloween candy to troops overseas. When they invited the rest of the students at school to pitch in, they were nearly overwhelmed with donations: 950 pounds of candy in four days.
“I knew on (Nov. 2) when I went to pick up 200 pounds, we were in for more than we thought,” said Katie Korrison, a co-leader of the troop.
The girls had “adopted” an Army unit recently deployed in Kuwait, which includes the son of one of Korrison’s friends. The Brownies wrote letters to the troops and planned to send their own candy, but then they decided to expand the candy drive to the whole school and offer a pizza party to the class that donated the most.
“I learned about one little boy in first grade who wanted to win the pizza party so bad he donated all his candy,” Korrison said.
The Brownies soon realized that their $100 budget to cover the cost of shipping candy to soldiers stationed in Kuwait was going to leave plenty of candy behind.
The Brownies sorted out the candy, selecting 100 pounds of non-chocolate (and non-melting) treats to ship to the Kuwait. Another 50 pounds is being mailed to soldiers in Korea, where the chocolate won’t melt, and where a friend of Korrison’s extended family is stationed.
On Veterans Day, the USO of Illinois picked up 350 pounds of candy from Korrison’s home to distribute in care packages to several USO stations. The final 450 pounds was split between Operation Gratitude, which ships care packages and thank you notes to troops and veterans; West Suburban PADS; and Hephzibah Children’s Association in Oak Park, according to Korrison.
Korrison guessed that the lousy trick-or-treating weather contributed to their success. She saw numerous unopened bags of candy she guesses never got handed out on Oct. 31.
In addition to the candy, the Brownies wrote letters to the troops, including messages like “Thank you for serving our country, and being so nice, and protecting us,” said Korrison’s daughter, Caroline. She also added some Halloween-themed jokes.
“They’re going to think, ‘Holy cow, that’s a lot of candy,'” Caroline Korrison said.