Operation Gratitude wants your Halloween candy

Children can bring home an enormous amount of candy after trick or treating on Halloween. Not only can it be more of a load than they can carry easily -- that much candy isn't healthy. Now anyone who is looking to save calories and keep that candy from hanging around for weeks, has an option for putting it to use.

Operation Gratitude is Niwot's Halloween Candy give-back program. Extra candy can be dropped off between November 1st and November 6th at the DRF Realtors Office behind the Old Oak Coffee Shop on 2nd Avenue. Ultimately, the candy is donated to Operation Gratitude, a national program that organizes the donation of excess Halloween candy to deployed troops, military veterans, local military units, and first responders.

An additional touch to the local program is also designed to support Niwot's small businesses. Anyone who donates candy receives a $5 gift card to The Old Oak Coffee Shop or Winot Coffee courtesy of DRF Real Estate. It's a sweet deal that supports kids and local businesses. In DRF realtor Deborah Read Fowler's words, it's a "Win-Win-Win" for kids, military and first responders, and the local Niwot community.