Turn Halloween candy into cash

By Jennifer Becknell - jbecknell@heraldonline.com

Hey, kids. Want to transform tonight's big Halloween candy loot into a little cash? Sell it to the dentist — and avoid that nasty tooth decay.

Coombs & Ross Family Dentistry in Rock Hill is among some 1,200 dentists nationwide who are offering to buy Halloween candy from kids. At the price of $1 per pound, they'll take it off your hands.

And it's for a good cause. Dentists plan to ship the goodies off to soldiers serving overseas.

“We thought it would be fun,” dentist Dr. William Ross III said. “It would be a good way to help support our troops and get not only candy, but we're going to send some toothbrushes and floss and some other things to them.”

Of course. Wouldn't want the troops to have cavities, either.

Ross said the idea is part of a movement called Halloween Candy Buy Back. The candy that dentists purchase from trick-or-treating patients will be sent to American troops through Operation Gratitude, a project of the California Army National Guard. Through the project, individual soldiers receive care packages addressed to them.

“I learned about it last year,” Ross said about the buy back. “A dental magazine had an article about it right before Halloween. But it was too late to do it then.”

However, he said employees in the Coombs & Ross practice were enthusiastic about the idea, so they decided to do it this year. Coombs and Ross is the only participating York County dental practice, according to the project's Web site. But dental practices in the Charlotte and Columbia areas have joined up, too.

Ross said his office will buy candy from kids from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday.

“Halloween should be fun for the kids, but if there's any candy they don't want, that's what we'd be willing to take from them,” said Ross, who said he's looking forward to Monday. “It's going to be interesting to see how many we get turned out.”

Coombs & Ross is at 1144-C India Hook Road, Rock Hill. For details, visit www.halloweencandybuyback.com.