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HAVE You
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The Candy Lady Cometh

For three decades, an Oak Park couple collects for forgotten kids.

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10/24
1997

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LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer

T

heir drive started 30 years
ago when a friend told Joy
Landau the kids at Maxey
Boys Training School don't

get candy.
She became "The Candy Lady" and,
along with her husband Lou, began
collecting leftover Halloween candy
each year and delivering to these kids.
This is 30th year that the Landaus will
be giving to the Whitmore Lake juve-
nile institution, 10 miles north of Ann
Arbor.
A friend of the Landaus that was
affiliated with Maxey got them
involved, and they've stuck with it
since. Landau is also the president of
the citizen's advisory council at Maxey,
equivalent to a PTA.
At one time, the Landaus were col-
lecting nearly 2,000 pounds of candy
annually. In recent years, the total has
dropped to around 600 pounds.
"It really isn't that much considering
there are 500 kids at Maxey, she said.
"But the kids love it."
Landau has already scheduled a state
truck to pick up the candy, along with
500 Christmas gifts she and her hus-
band will have wrapped for them for
delivery before Christmas Day.
"I hate knowing that these kids are
alone for the holiday," she said. "Of the
kids there, probably 150 of them don't
have family come to see them. The par-
ents don't care, but hopefully this gives
them the feeling that someone does
care for them."
Maxey is a juvenile treatment facility
for male offenders aged 12-20, accord-
ing to Campus Superintendent Ernie
Pasteur. They have committed crimes,
but are not of age for conventional
prisons. .
In Pasteur's first year as the head of
Maxey, he granted Landau's request for
a truck. He found his office and half a
conference room filled with gifts and
candy.
"Joy's work has been one of the
pleasant surprises of my job," Pasteur
said. "She's been relentless in her pur-
suit to get donations for the boys.
Each piece of candy is checked for
tampering. The Landaus are also
among the few private citizens allowed

"

\\ **iik,

Lou and Joy Landau with candy and Christmas presents for the boys at Maxey.

by the state to wrap gifts in their home
for the boys at Maxey.
"We take this very seriously,"
Landau said. "We can't project how
much candy we'll bring in, but I hope
it's enough so that it can last through
the winter."
The boys at Maxey know Landau
and her work well.
"The love her because they know
she's a warm and giving person," said
Pasteur. "They love to see her as much
as the gifts."
The cost of the drive for Halloween
candy is only the postage to publicize
the event, and hopefully get people

interested and involved. Regarding the
Christmas gifts, Mrs. Landau would
only say, "We donate our share, but
donations from others — money or
gifts — are a must.
"The last thing I want from this is
glory," she said. "I'm a God-fearing Jew
who prays very hard for these kids." El

LIA4u

