Prior Lake Interact Club's primary project for October was participating in a candy donation to Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude is an organization that packs and sends care packages to United States troops deployed overseas. The care packages often include snacks, scarves, games, and hygiene kits. Every year, Operation Gratitude also collects excess Halloween candy to include in the packages. Candy is an important component of the care packages because troops will often share the candy with local children and communities overseas to build trust.
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| This flyer was distributed to elementary principals to share with teachers and students. |
Interact members contacted activities director, Mr. Reetz, to help spread the message of the project. Mr. Reetz forwarded an email to the principals of all the elementary schools in ISD 719. Collection boxes were set up from October 21st through November 4th in the elementary schools who wished to participate. This two week time span allowed families to bring in extra candy before Halloween and any leftovers afterwards.
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| We created a poster to promote the candy collection. |
At the November 5th member meeting, Interact members gathered outside of the high school to separate the collected candy into two piles of chocolate and non-chocolate candy. We were able to organize many boxes, but we were no where close to finishing.
Therefore, on the following Saturday, four members met at Susan Perez's home to finish separating and packing in order to ensure the candy's arrival to Operation Gratitude before the deadline. After two hours of hard work, we successfully packed 25 boxes of candy to ship with much more left over. Interact Club collected over 700 pounds of candy!
The 25 boxes of candy were sent to Operation Gratitude. This was about 312.50 pounds! The excess candy was distributed to Hosanna Church in Shakopee, the local R.O.C.K. organization, and the food shelf VEAP.
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| This is the candy leftover after 25 boxes were packed. |
We are still amazed at how much candy was collected! We are sincerely thankful to the families, students, teachers, and principals who made donations. Special thank you to Mr. Reetz, WestWood Elementary, Edgewood School, Five Hawks Elementary, Grainwood Elementary, and Jeffers Pond Elementary for helping and participating in a wonderful cause. Without this help, this project would not have been as much of a success as it was!
