Unwrapping Connection Through a Candy Bowl
Office goodie bowls across Duke satisfy the sweet tooth and foster camaraderie
One bowl is always brimming with miniature chocolate candy bars; another bowl contains fruit and sour candy (think Skittles and Sour Patch Kids); a third bowl is filled with mints; and a fourth jar holds hard candies like Jolly Ranchers. Purdy says she bakes about once a week, too, to add cookies and other desserts to the supply.
“The candy really gets people in here,” Purdy said. “People don’t always want to come to our office, but they want our candy.”
Amid busy and hybrid work schedules, and with Halloween approaching, an office candy bowl serves as a gathering point for colleagues around a common cause that sweets are delicious, sparking casual conversation and a jolt of mood-boosting serotonin from a nibble of chocolate.
Tripp Ake, an Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke, bakes and recently brought a homemade “milk and cookies” cake to the office. It led to an unexpected conversation with a colleague he doesn’t see often.
“It's about just having the time to connect, to be able to care for one another, to be able to learn about something different that people enjoy outside of our work conversations,” Ake said. “It just brings people out of their professional shells a little bit more.”
In Athletics Compliance, Purdy has learned a lot about her colleagues, too. First, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are by far the most popular candy, which mimics a national trend that 53% of all candy purchased is chocolate, according to the National Confectioners Association. But her office has also discovered that women’s soccer coach Robbie Church loves Lifesavers Gummies, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Iron Dukes Annual Fund Jack Winters will always stop for a chocolate chip cookie, and Women’s Soccer Assistant Coach Carla Overbeck delights in smushing fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls with Hershey’s chocolate to create an innovative treat.
Here are some other standout candy bowls found throughout the Duke community.
Duke School of Nursing, Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
Shameika Wallace isn’t sure how the School of Nursing’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging came to have a candy bowl shortly after moving into their new office six months ago.
“I think it came from one of us having a candy craving, and someone brought in a bag of Airheads or something,” said Wallace, an Administrative Assistant.
Wallace found a bowl somewhere, and the candy bowl was born. It made sense for an office that encourages acceptance and inclusiveness – and an open door – to offer a reason for everyone to pop in.
“I really love that it's here in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging office,” said Program Director Najla McClain. “We want people to know that we see them, that they're valued – and that we have a variety of candy for them.”
Added Vice Dean Ernest Grant: “We’ve always promoted this as a safe and brave space. So, folks come in, anyway, just to say hello.”
Grant confessed that he’s gained seven to 10 pounds since he started in his role about 18 months ago.
“It's not all candy related,” Grant said, laughing.
Duke Global Health Institute, Staff Assistant Diane Worthy
When Diane Worthy started her position as a Staff Assistant at the Duke Global Health Institute two years ago, she knew she wanted to meet as many people as she could. Her idea to bring students, staff and faculty into her office? A candy bowl.
“I was trying to think of something to make them feel comfortable and welcome,” she said. “As a result of the candy dish, they come. We get acquainted. And the candy dish has brought some really positive things. We’re not distant.
“Chocolate has brought us together.”
Worthy has been called the office “sunshine” because of her positive and friendly demeanor. She credits the bowl of miniature Hershey’s bars on her desk.
“It’s all because of chocolate,” she said.
Corporate Accounts Payable, Associate Controller Jim Allen
To get to the selection of top-notch miniature chocolates such as Snickers and M&M’s on Jim Allen’s desk, you have to actually walk into his office in Corporate Accounts Payable. It’s been that way since he started filling the clear jar that sits at the corner of his desk years ago.
“People knew they could just come into my office and grab candy whenever they wanted,” said Allen, Associate Controller. “And then you’d get a chance to talk to them for a second when they came into the office.”
It wasn’t necessarily intentional to encourage camaraderie, he admitted, but it has become a way to bond with colleagues. These days, he’ll go out of his way to fill the jar within arm’s reach of his keyboard with treats he knows others love.
“Over the years, I’ve gotten used to it being there, so it doesn’t tempt me anymore,” Allen said.
Alumni Engagement and Development, Senior Public Relations Specialist Mercedes Perry
Mercedes Perry started as a Senior Public Relations Specialist in Duke Alumni, Engagement and Development about three months ago. One of her first tasks? Setting out a candy bowl on top of the filing cabinet next to her desk.
She’s had a candy bowl at every job she’s ever worked at, and providing some mints and hard candy for colleagues has always been an easy way to form connections.
“It was my way of making people feel comfortable to come up and talk to me, and my way of introducing myself,” she said.
She started with a bowl of Jolly Ranchers and one of Lifesavers mints “if you've had a really good lunch with onions and you don't want to melt anybody's face off with your breath,” she said. A co-worker suggested she add a bucket of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, too – and that’s proven to be the biggest hit of all, so far.
“I'm a naturally giving person,” she said. “I like to see people smile, I like to just brighten someone's day. This was kind of that – in addition to getting people to come and chat with me and meeting new people – it's a way to brighten people's day.”
Human Resources Administration, Executive Assistant Rose Porges
During the height of the pandemic, the vending machine on the second floor of the Human Resources building fell off the vending machine refill schedule, Executive Assistant Rose Porges said.
By July 2023, it was an empty shell of coiled rows waiting for snacks.
Porges’ desk is just a couple doors down from the break room vending machine and she “could sense the toll this was taking on my colleagues,” she said. “Hungry people would come upstairs looking for a snack and would walk away with growling tummies, disappointed, and cranky.”
“I couldn’t take it,” she said. “I placed a sign on the machine telling people to stop by my office if they were in search of a snack. The smiles that snack basket has been putting on people’s faces for over a year now are priceless!”
Porges’ basket “gives the illusion of a ‘healthy’ snack,” she said, with Kind Bars and trail mix.
Rhodes Information Initiative, Administrative Coordinator Kathy Peterson
It’s true that Administrative Coordinator Kathy Peterson has a bowl of chocolate in her office at the Rhodes Information Initiative.
But that’s just the start of what she offers to the 95 post-doc students, 60 math department Ph.D.s and 111 staff and faculty members in the program.
“They’re always hungry,” Peterson said. “And they’re always happy to stop for a moment and join in the group.”
There’s a permanent snack table in Peterson’s office at all times. But on Mondays and Wednesdays, Peterson rolls out a cart with baked goods and tea, and on Thursdays, Staff Assistant Tadja Evans pops popcorn in the special commercial-grade popcorn popper. She makes about 80-90 bags each week, and they’re all gone in less than two hours.
“It's a return on investment,” she said. “We just want community and to rebuild community after COVID, because so many people are just hungering for human contact and human interaction.”
And just hungry, in general, of course.
One more example of candy bringing together colleagues: The Office of Global Affairs and the John Hope Franklin Center made a "candy salad" at the Global Education Fair recently.
Think your candy bowl is something special, too? Send us a photo through our story idea form or write working@duke.edu for a chance to win a bag of candy to refill it.
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