It’s almost that time of year again. Every year after Halloween, Drs. Allen and Kelly Smudde of Santa Clarita Advanced Dentistry open their doors to the community with the same goal in mind – to buy back candy and give back to our local community, schools, and armed forces.

Santa Clarita Advanced Dentistry hosts their annual event Thursday. This will be their 10-Year Anniversary hosting Operation Gratitude: Halloween Candy Buy Back. Last year, they had a record-breaking year with 3,942 pounds of candy. They had over 146 participants that helped donate to our troops overseas.

“I was a recipient of Operation Gratitude and I had a box delivered to me in Africa and it made my deployment,” said Captain Kelly Guerra who was present last year. “I just want to say thank you to everyone, for all of your love and support. When you see us and you say “thank you for your service” it means the world to us, please don’t stop saying that.”

Similar to last year, this event will be much more than a simple candy drop off station. This year’s event will again comprise of Halloween-themed carnival games such as, the Witch Hat Ring Toss, Zombie Eyeball Toss, Spin-Wheel, Photo Booth, Face Painting, and a letter writing station where each child will get the chance to physically hand Thank You letters to our local troops! There will also be fun prizes, contests, and raffles for all the participants. Everyone will have a chance to win great and fun prizes! Drs. Allen and Kelly Smudde donated nearly 5,000 dollars to our local community and schools during last year’s event!

“We are extremely excited for this year’s event! It is our 10 year anniversary and we wish to have more participants then last year,” says Dr. Kelly. “We collected a record-breaking 3,942 lbs of candy last year alone! We look forward to giving back again this year and having a larger turnou!”

Through the years, the husband-and-wife team have donated over 1 million dollars to our Santa Clarita Valley. The event last year had over 41 schools participate with Bridgeport Elementary and Emblem Academy winning the $500 school donations. Bridgeport Elementary had 10 participants, while Emblem Academy donated the most pounds of candy with 461 total pounds. All of the candy and letters received will be sent to our troops serving overseas via Operation Gratitude.

Event details:
When: Thursday, Nov. 1 from 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Address: Allen & Kelly Smudde DDS – Santa Clarita Advanced Dentistry
27450 Tourney Rd, Ste 250, Valencia, Santa Clarita, California 91355
Phone: (661) 259-4474
Email: Info@YourValenciaDentist.com