Stuck at home as the pandemic began shutting everything down in March, two Deerfield High School teens immediately swung into action to show essential workers how much they were appreciated.
Morgan Millstein and Carly Kohn, no strangers to helping others and trying to make a difference for people in their communities, created a nonprofit they called Candy4Corona, selling boxes of candy to families to place outside their door for essential workers to take as they delivered mail and packages or to deliver to area hospitals for staff there.
The 17-year-old seniors knew they had something special when their first Amazon candy order of 120 boxes each sold out in a day, but they never imagined how big it could get. They have since sold 6,000 boxes of candy and raised nearly $4,000, with proceeds going to NorthShore Glenbrook Hospital for COVID-19 frontline workers.
“It ended up being a huge success. It was so rewarding to see how happy it made the delivery drivers and essential workers,” Kohn says.
The girls received messages and videos from people thankful for their efforts.
“It is the most rewarding feeling in the world to simply just put a smile on someone’s face,” Millstein says.
Candy4Corona is on pause for the moment, but Millstein and Kohn say they are ready to begin it again should another quarantine be put in place. The pair are starting their senior year e-learning.
In the meantime, people also can help support Candy4Corona by donating money to NorthShore University HealthSystem COVID-19 Response Fund.
Follow Chicago Parent on Instagram.
