How to donate your Halloween candy on Long Island through Treats for Troops
A nonprofit offers the opportunity to donate leftover Halloween candy to the troops. Credit: Chicago Tribune/E. Jason Wambsgans
If you're like most families dealing with a post-Halloween glut of candy and can't think of a guilt-free argument to pry it away from your kids, several Long Island businesses are offering a sweet alternative: they're collecting excess candy to be donated to members of the military.
The candy is being collected as part of the Treats for Troops post-Halloween candy drive run by Soldiers' Angels, a Texas-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
The volunteer organization, which has representatives in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and 31 countries, works, according to its website, "to ensure that those who serve or have served are supported, uplifted, and remembered through a variety of support programs."
One major Long Island candy donor working with Soldiers' Angels, is Garden City-based Keller Williams Realty of Greater Nassau, which, as part of a national franchise, has more than 1,800 real estate agents working from Manhattan to Montauk. Last year, its first working with the nonprofit, it donated more than 800 pounds of candy to the cause, the firm said.
Keller Williams director of agent development and services Emily Lam, a graduate of East Meadow High School, said she was tasked last year with running point on the candy collections by office CEO Bisendra Melaram.
Using its network of agents, Lam said Keller Williams has already gotten candy donation commitments from Girl Scout troops, schools in almost a dozen Nassau County districts, businesses and residents — and even from a dental office.
"Our agents go door-knocking," Lam said, "telling residents and neighbors, 'Hey, we're going to be donating candy to our troops, if you have any ... we'll take it.'"
Another business collecting candy for Soldiers' Angels is Greater Long Island Dental in Massapequa, a dental office with more than 3,000 patients.
Office manager Alexandra Muha said the practice began collecting candy with buybacks more than five years ago and decided this year to instead collect for Soldiers' Angels.
"We started it as a buyback, initially to convince parents to help prevent cavities," she said, "but then realized we needed to do something with the candy we collected — and this just made the most sense."
Muha, of Seaford, said the most-donated candies appear to be M&Ms, Skittles and Dots, though said she's not quite willing to part with her all-time favorite: Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate with Almonds.
Greater Long Island Dental will ship their donated goodies to a veteran's center in New Windsor, while Keller Williams will be sending their collected candies to a veteran's center in Buffalo.
For more information on how to donate, contact the nonprofit directly.
John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.
