CANDOR's Pre-Opening Donations: $950 to Two Foodbanks!
Learn more about CANDY CAN DO GOOD.
happenings;
This post is about three months late, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. Between finishing construction, hiring and training staff, building out every operational system from scratch (more than I’d care to admit are still on the to-do list), and then actually opening our doors on March 31 - the newsletter was not the first thing to get done. But the donations were! So let’s catch-up.
dazed and confused on what I’m even talking about? skip below to About CANDY CAN DO GOOD.
Candor made our first donation before a single piece of candy had been sold. To mark of our founder’s January birthday 🥳 we sent $710 to the Clinton Hill Fort Greene Mutual Aid Fund. 710 was the exact number of Instagram followers we had at the time, and we never questioned the best way to celebrate that pre-opening support was to give back.
The second donation came by happy accident. In March, a shelving unit we’d ordered for the backroom storage arrived and turned out to be too long for the nook we’d purchased it for. Rather than return it, we coordinated with a few Fort Greeners who’d been following the shop since our earliest days; in their spare time, they volunteer at Food First Pantry in Red Hook, a program run by New York Cares. They graciously came by, brought the disassembled shelf down to the pantry, and reassembled it for them - a unit that was desperately needed it turns out! That rack was valued at $240.
Going forward, we’ll share reflections on the last month at the shop in this top section - fun partnerships we did, any specials we hosted in-store, events we were a part of, etc. Half newsletter, half donation tracker!
donation 1: $710 to Clinton Hill Fort Greene Mutual Aid
CHFGMA is an all-volunteer, community-run mutual aid organization serving the neighborhoods Candor is directly located in. They connect neighbors to groceries (including offering to shop and deliver for folks with mobility concerns), supplies, laundry, and any other practical day-to-day needs folks have. It’s the kind of quiet work that makes an enormous difference in the lives of people right in our backyard. They run entirely on community support, which means every dollar goes directly to neighbors in need. If you’re local and want to plug in, their website is the place to start.
donation 2: $240 to New York Cares
New York Cares is New York City’s largest volunteer organization, founded in 1987 by a group of friends frustrated by how hard it was to find meaningful ways to show up for their city. Thirty-seven years later, they partner with more than 400 schools and 150 corporations, mobilizing tens of thousands of volunteers each year across programs addressing hunger, homelessness, education, and more. Food First Pantry in Red Hook is one of the many community programs they power on the ground across the five boroughs.
About CANDY CAN DO GOOD - In our founding year 2026, Candor has committed to donating $1 to local food banks for every Instagram follow, Substack subscription, and Google review we receive - directly transforming the community support we receive into support for our neighbors facing food insecurity. Our plan for 2027 and beyond is to begin directly donating a percentage of total sales to our foodbank partners, deepening that commitment as the business grows.
We’re committed to 100% transparency to the community in fulfilling these donations, and that’ll all happen here on Substack as well as our website.
up next -
our final catch up post debuts next week, specific to May (and formatted much more like our permanent structure going forward)
see you shortly⏳ (and sweetly 🍬)
Cat