How sweet it is — 1 million chocolate bars donated to hospital workers across the US

Joe Marusak
·1 min read

One sweet cargo arrived Friday morning at an Atrium Health distribution center in Charlotte’s NoDa section.

Inside the Penske rental truck were boxes containing 20,040 chocolate bars from World’s Finest Chocolate. The donated chocolate bars will go to more than 16,000 health care workers at Atrium’s 11 hospitals in the state.

Ted Garrett, a Concord-based independent sales rep for World’s Finest Chocolate of Chicago, said the bars were a gesture of thanks from the company for the workers’ efforts during the new coronavirus pandemic.

Garrett received the chocolates through World’s Finest Chocolate’ s recently launched Chocolate for Healthcare Heroes program. The company is donating 1 million chocolate bars to U.S. health care workers and emergency responders through the program, he said.

Garrett’s Goalbuster Fundraising company in Concord provides fundraising ideas for schools, youth groups, PTOs, sports teams and other organizations.

Penske gave him the truck rent-free to deliver the chocolates, Garrett told The Charlotte Observer Friday morning as he readied the delivery.

Workers at Atrium Health’s distribution center in Charlotte’s NoDa section pose with some of the 20,040 bars of chocolate delivered there on Friday morning, April 10, 2020.
Workers at Atrium Health’s distribution center in Charlotte’s NoDa section pose with some of the 20,040 bars of chocolate delivered there on Friday morning, April 10, 2020.

With the boxes came a letter to health care providers from Garrett. “Enjoy a FREE box of chocolates (or two) as a THANK YOU for all you do to keep our community safe and healthy!” he wrote.

Earlier Friday, Garrett told the Observer: “They are the real heroes on the front line dealing with this pandemic.”