In the spirit of giving and sharing the Halloween spooky spirit, the City of Clearwater’s recreation centers collected 1,645 pounds of Halloween candy to send to U.S. servicemembers stationed overseas.

Clearwater residents were encouraged to donate their extra candy to the Support The Troops organization November 1-7. Individuals received a small prize for every pound of candy donated and were entered into a drawing for one of several grand prizes. Residents could earn extra entries by writing letters to the troops or contributing essential items such as ground coffee, toothpaste, razors, white tube socks or beef jerky. The Parks & Recreation department collected 250 pounds of toiletries and essential items.

Support The Troops is a nonprofit dedicated to shipping care packages to the forward operating bases in Afghanistan. Additional care packages are sent to 24 bases in the United States for troops returning from Afghanistan.