Melville orthodontists collect 2,000 pounds of candy

A Melville orthodontic office has collected more than 2,000 pounds of Halloween candy this season for charity.

Jackie Droge of Faber Orthodontics said the office received 2,123 pounds of donated Halloween candy from 60 children and five area schools in response to its call for Halloween candy.

Orthodontists Richard Faber and Zackary Faber had announced that they would donate $1 for every pound of candy that children brought in. The orthodontists will donate $2,000 to Smiles Change Lives, a nonprofit that funds orthodontic work for children in low-income families.

The office has been running the collection for three years, Droge said, but this year’s collection was the biggest haul. That record was helped along by R.J.O. Intermediate School in Kings Park, whose students donated more than 800 pounds of candy last Friday, Droge said.

Droge said the candy, which by Monday had been boxed up and shrink-wrapped, will be sent to overseas troops, along with handwritten notes from some of the children.

Droge said that the kids who donated didn’t seem to mind trading in their Halloween spoils for goody bags of toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss.

“The kids that have braces know they can’t eat it. The kids who are involved at school, they just want to raise the most,” Droge said. “They’re willing to give it up. They get excited about it."