The Sweet Tooth Company
newspaper articles

February 25, 2003 - Daily Herald
November 8, 2001 - Carol Stream Press
October 24, 2001 - The Examiner of Carol Stream
October 16, 2001 - Daily Herald

Fund-raising Effort leads women to open business

~Kim Mikus - Daily Herald -
February 25, 2003

What started out as a fund-raising effort after the Sept. 11 tragedy has developed into a business for two suburban women.

Dawne Andracki of St. Charles and Anne Marie Gallanis of Carol Stream baked sweets to raise money. They ended up raising $3,000, which went to the firefighters in New York, the Red Cross and a church in New York near where the tragedy occurred.

For a year, the women sold baked treats at their children’s sporting events and at local businesses.

The women continued to receive orders for their baked goods after meeting their goal. That’s when they decided to launch Sweet Tooth Co. They made a variety of baked goods, homemade chocolate, suckers, dipped pretzels and other treats customized for the occasion. They continue to raise money for local sports and school groups.

All their items are baked to order. Holiday-related treats are among the most popular. They are currently starting on shamrock-shaped cookies and molded suckers for St. Patrick’s Day. Chocolate is the base to nearly all their recipes that they bake from their homes.

A pound of gourmet chocolate ranges from $10 to $12. The business has mainly grown through word of mouth. Personalized gift baskets are also part of the mix. The women, who also have a catalog, mail some of their treats while the rest are delivered or picked up by customers.

In addition to running the business and raising families, the women also hold other jobs.

Andracki is an accountant and has been doing taxes for 20 years. She works at a Bloomingdale accounting firm. Her three children range in age from 13 to 16.

For the past 15 years, Gallanis has worked as a mammogram technician at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. Her four children range in age from 4 to 13.

For more information, call (630)204-9198.

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Candy Grams
Carol Stream women send sweet relief to New York

~Nate Haken - Carol Stream Press
November 8, 2001

Carol Stream residents Anne Marie Gallanis and Dawne Andracki have been making candy hand over fist. They sell the candy around town and then donate the money to New York.

“It’s kind of a hobby,” Gallanis said. “We do all different shapes and colors.”

For the Halloween season, they made large numbers of pumpkin-shaped candies. For Thanksgiving, they have started making chocolate turkeys. Lately, there has been a lot of red, white and blue in their candies as a celebration of patriotism.

“We’ve probably gone through 150 pounds of chocolate so far,” Andracki said.

After the attacks on the East Coast, Gallanis and Andracki wanted to help. They decided they would make candy and sell it to raise money.

“It’s a good thing to do,” Gallanis said. “We feel like we’re helping out.”

They began by selling candy at their children’s sporting events. Remaining true to the sporting theme, they made chocolate footballs and chocolate megaphones.

Gallanis has four children. Andracki has three.

Everyone at the ball games liked the candy so much that they were asked to come back with more, Gallanis said. Before long, Gallanis and Andracki were selling candy at the Simkus Recreation Center in the Carol Stream Park District, 849 Lies Road; at the Hair Room, 1487 Fair Oaks Road, Carol Stream; and at Rooster’s Barn and Grill, 122 W. Lake St., Bloomingdale.

The first $1,000 the pair raised was sent to the firefighters in New York City through the Carol Stream Fire Department.

Andracki said she and Gallanis, their seven children and six neighbors drove out to the Carol Stream fire house at the corner of Lies Road and Woodlake Drive Oct. 9 to present Fire Chief Mark Bodane with the money.

“I thought it was pretty awesome,” Bodane said of the donation. “It’s just amazing how much money they raised.”

“We’re just taking money out to cover our costs,” Gallanis said. All the rest is donated, she said.

Between their jobs (Gallanis does mammograms at a local hospital and Andracki is an accountant), their kids and their husbands, Gallanis said it’s hard to make time for all the candy making.

“We stay up late at night and get up early in the morning,” she said.

Andracki said the funnest part of their food will project is “standing there” at craft fairs and sporting events with the candy, selling it to people.

“It’s fun,” she said. “It makes us feel good.”

For more information about the fund-raising effort, or to sell candy at an upcoming event, call Anne Marie Gallanis at (630)213-9198, or Dawne Andracki at (630)513-0141.

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Homemade ‘Treats for Relief’ a sweet success

~Audrey Lowe - The Examiner of Carol Stream
October 24, 2001

Sweets are usually a rare treat to satisfy an occasional sweet tooth. But for two Carol Stream women who make these sweet creations, sending aid to New York is what their efforts are now for.

Anne Marie Gallanis of Carol Stream, had acquired a knack for making decorative chocolate creations which she used primarily for giving as personal gifts.

Selling her culinary creations, along with the help of fellow baking buddy Dawne Andracki, during the Panthers football homecoming game they noticed a demand for their products.

“The molded candy items really started to catch on,” said Andracki. “Patrons were inquiring about what other types of treats we had for sale.”

It was then that the two friends decided to make patriotic themed and /or decorated sweets, and send the proceeds to the relief efforts in New York City.

The candy and other baked items, placed in display baskets, have been distributed in local businesses throughout the tri-village and surrounding areas and are being sold for one dollar each.

Within just two short weeks, Gallanis and Andracki, have raised and donated $1,000 to the Carol Stream Fire fighters, who have sent the monies to the NYFD relief fund.

“With all the different fundraisers towards the relief efforts, we felt that the candy and baked foods sale was a great and inexpensive way of raising money,” said Gallanis. “We even have our children participating in making some of the molded candy.”

To date the girls have raised an additional $250 that will be donated to the American Red Cross along with any additional monies raised in the coming weeks.

Catching on in the Carol Stream community the two originators have recruited additional bakers that include the help of Gallanis' 12-year-old daughter Nicole, Andracki’s 12-year-old daughter Tammi and 15-year-old daughter Traci, Megan Andracki, Brittani Riviera as well as additional support from area neighbors.

Having a patriotic motif, these individually wrapped sweet treats such as chocolate suckers, dipped pretzels, Milky Way bars, toffee bites and peanut butter cups and mini banana bread loaves among other goods, are easily identifiable by their red, white and blue ribbons.

“We are looking for additional events that we can sell the candy and baked goods at,” said Gallanis.

With no profits coming their way, outside of the purchase for supplies, Gallanis and Andracki make it very clear that all proceeds are going directly towards relief efforts.

Anyone wishing to contact “Treats for Relief” for orders or for special events may do so by calling Anne Marie Gallanis at 213-9198.

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Fund-raiser for firefighters meets with sweet success

~Carmen Greco Jr. – Daily Herald
October 16, 2001

For Anne Marie Gallanis of Carol Stream, it seemed the most natural way to do something for the nation’s terrorist victims.

Combining her talent for baking with a universal sweet tooth on the part of the general public, she started baking patriotic confections to sell at public events around town.

The sugary effort already has raised $1,000 to help the families of firefighters who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack.

She and about 15 other volunteers plan to keep their baking aprons on for some time to come.

“Our goal is to do it for at least a year,” Gallanis said.

“We want to keep it ongoing. We didn’t want to do it just one time and forget about it. This is a huge problem, and everybody’s concerned.”

The customized treats coming out of hers and other volunteers’ kitchens include chocolate pretzels with red, white and blue sprinkles and molded chocolate flags and stars.

The goodies-for-a-cause were sold during a youth football game at Armstrong Park in Carol Stream.

The effort, meanwhile, is catching on with local businesses. The Hair Room, a beauty salon near Army Trail and Fair Oaks roads in Carol Stream, and Rooster’s Barn and Grill on Lake Street in Bloomingdale, are selling the goods.

A&B Jewelry, located on Wabash Avenue in downtown Chicago, is doing the same.

Cox-Automotive Systems in West Chicago also recently bought 300 chocolate-covered pretzels to hand out during a trade show at the Allstate Arena.

On Oct. 23, the candies will be available during a special Market Day event at Spring Trail Elementary School.

Dawne Andracki, a friend of Gallanis’ who lives in St. Charles, said people have been scooping up the sweets wherever they have been sold.

“A lot of people come by with a five-dollar bill, buy one or two things, and say, “Keep the change,” Andracki said.

Gallanis said she hopes to organize at least one large bake sale per month, and she is seeking other volunteers to help with the baking, as well more venues to sell the sweets.

Gallanis and other volunteers presented a $1,000 check to the Carol Stream Fire Department this week to be forwarded to the fund helping the families of fallen New York firefighters.

In the future, proceeds will go to all families of the Sept. 11 terrorist victims.

Andracki said they never expected to raise $1,000 in a week, which was their original goal for the entire effort.

But the enthusiastic public response persuaded them to keep everybody baking.

“We’ll keep dong it as long as people are interested and they support it,” she said.

Those who wish to volunteer or would like to feature the goodies at an upcoming event can call Gallanis at (630)213-9198.

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