Lakeville's 'Candyman' selling chocolate to raise money for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
LAKEVILLE - His name is Fred Reagan, but he says his nickname is "The Candyman."
The 77-year-old Lakeville man is preparing for his 17th Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk in October.
"I started doing it with a good friend of mine who lost his daughter-in-law, 30 years of age, with cancer," said Reagan.
His goal this year is to raise $20,000 for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
"He's really what we want all of our supporters to be like. Just that passion, that energy," said Zack Blackburn, Assistant Vice President of the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, adding, "Fred himself, through the end of last year, has raised just shy of $107,000."
He does this by way of mail.
"I'll send out about 260 letters this year and I had a stamp made at Staples that says 'AKA the Candyman.'"
And by selling Hilliards Chocolates.
"This is our chocolate bars for fundraising program. There's 40 chocolate bars in there. They're a $1 each and then they can resell them for $2 or whatever they choose," said Maegan McCarthy Dec, Hilliards Chocolates President.
Now in year 12 of using the program, Fred says he's close to selling his 100,000th candy bar.
"It's very close. I think by the end of October, November, I will have hit 100,000 candy bars," he said.
Fred sells the candy bars out of a cooler in his car, but he also works with about 20 local businesses. Some of them he visits weekly to drop off boxes of chocolate.
"He's great. He's so amazing. He's such a joy to have around. Every time he's around I'm always smiling, I'm always laughing," said Cale Rynscewicz, an employee at one of those businesses, Winberg's True Value Hardware.
"I drive around. I probably put five-to-six thousand miles on my car every year, but that's okay. It's a good cause. And one of these days we're going to have a cure for cancer," said Reagan.
