Newton's The Corner Table prepares, sells 930 tins of candy

The Corner Table Executive Director Summer Jenkins labels boxes of candy tins on Dec. 10, 2024. Jenkins has been working with the nonprofit for 11 years.

They call her “The Peanut Butter Girl.”

Carla Hafer is one of more than 50 volunteers and staff at The Corner Table in Newton who come together each December to prepare and package orders of candy tins as a fundraiser for the nonprofit that provides meals to those in need.

This year, the group sold 930 tins. The group started taking candy orders on Oct. 1 and surpassed 900 requests by Nov. 8. The fundraiser brought in $18,600 to support the community kitchen and its meal programs.

Paula White, 66, uses a dropper full of melted chocolate to fill in the holes left by the sticks used to dip peanut butter balls at The Corner Table on Dec. 10.

Hafer has been volunteering with The Corner Table for eight years.

“It keeps me busy, and I like to cook. I like to be with people and I feel like I’m giving back to the Lord,” Hafer said.

Nicknamed “The Peanut Butter Girl,” she is one of the few volunteers that began preparing sweets prior to Dec. 9. The week before, Hafer prepared and chilled the peanut butter ball batter, rolled it into balls and froze it to get it ready for volunteers to submerge the candy into a chocolate coating.

Volunteer Carla Hafer, left, and Angela Brittain, right, prepare peanut butter balls. Hafer, a volunteer of eight years, began preparing the batter for the candy a week before the rest of the confectionery process.

The tins are filled with homemade chocolate fudge, white chocolate Christmas crackle (a famous salty sweet treat, according to The Corner Table’s website), peppermint bark, and peanut butter balls. Getting the tins filled and ready is an intense four-day process that ended on Dec. 13.

“We have companies that buy them, that ship them to their customers,” Executive Director Summer Jenkins said. “We have people that buy them for themselves, or people that buy for their neighbors.”

“They make really good gifts,” she added.

The Corner Table Executive Director Summer Jenkins labels boxes of candy tins on Dec. 10. Jenkins has been working with the nonprofit for 11 years.

The fundraiser has been in place for 11 years and has grown in popularity.

“Most of our customers are repeat customers. So the only way you really get to get your candy tins is either we increase our numbers or you got your order in before somebody from a past order,” Jenkins said.

4 days, many volunteers

On the first day of production, The Corner Table welcomed the help of 50 volunteers to prepare and pack the confections.

Volunteers, from left, David VanSlee and Ryan Penland, foreground, Justin Kauffman and Zach Kopko prepare tins of candy at The Corner Table in Newton.

Many of the volunteers return each year because of the sense of community they have within the kitchen and the joy they get from helping others.

Teri Peppers, 61, has been volunteering with The Corner Table for eight years. Her motivation to serve others was passed down from her parents.

“I’ve watched my father volunteer for over 30 years. He volunteers at CCM, and he and my mother have always been very charitable, donating, participating, and I’ve seen it all my life.

So this just seemed like a good opportunity for me to kind of fall in with what they’ve always done and what they would want me to do,” Peppers said.

Teri Peppers, background, and Aundrea Hawn laugh while pouring the batter for peppermint bark at The Corner Table in Newton on Dec. 10. Peppers has been volunteering with the nonprofit for eight years.

“There’s such a good camaraderie, which you’ve seen between all of us,” Peppers said. “If you can’t have fun, you shouldn’t be here.”

The Corner Table Board President Kim Bolick prepares the fudge. In two days, she had 137 pans of fudge completed. Bolick has been working with the nonprofit 10 years.

“I might start my own chocolate factory,” she said.

What is The Corner Table?

The community kitchen provides lunch for guests weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

An average of 20 volunteers cook and serve the meals every day.

In addition to their community kitchen, The Corner Table serves the community through a backpack program and the Debbie Payseur Frozen Meals program to feed those in need.

On Dec. 21, The Corner Table is partnering with First United Methodist Church of Newton to distribute family food bags, toiletry kits and toys for children. The event, called Christmas on the Corner, is 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., and a barbecue lunch will be served.

Volunteer David VanSlee packs tins of candy at The Corner Table on Dec. 10. The tins are filled with Christmas crackle, chocolate fudge, peanut butter balls and peppermint bark candy.