Sweet success
Destination Candy wins Governor\\\'s Achievement Employment Award
How sweet it is.
Destination Candy in Washington was awarded the 2026 Governor’s Achievement Employer Award by the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association.
The minority-owned, family-run candy company that was launched in 2023 by Christopher Adkins and his mother, Linda Adkins, was honored for its “second-chance” hiring practices and dedication to employing workers who face barriers to employment, including people in addiction recovery and post-incarceration.
It was one of only three businesses in Pennsylvania to receive the award, which was presented at a ceremony in Hershey earlier this month.
“Destination Candy is the conduit that allows me to achieve a goal of mine, which is to uplift people who really need that support,” said Adkins. “Destination Candy is predicated on our second-chance and re-entry hiring program that we focus on. The folks who come through our door and join our team are some of the most fabulous people I’ve ever met. They come from all walks of life, and they’ve had different experiences than I’ve had, but they’re able to come together for a common goal, and it has been an amazing experience and exactly what I wanted it to be.”
Destination Candy houses L.A. Sweets, a bakery operated by Linda Adkins; a gift shop and candy store that partners with local businesses to sell locally sourced products (for example, gift baskets filled with goods from independent stores such as Toffee House, Old Road Farm and Maestro’s Sauce Co.); and a catering business that also offers daily hot and cold lunches, including chicken and waffle plates and hot sausage sandwiches.
The company has collaborated with Southwest Training Services, a non-profit workforce development organization in Washington that connects local employers with job seekers, implementing the organization’s On-the-Job Training Program to hire employees who need additional support to succeed.
Adkins aims to become a certified second-chance employer “so we can continue to help meet people where they are and to make that transition a bit more seamless and easier.”
For Adkins, providing a second chance for employees is personal.
Adkins said a childhood friend of his “made a bad decision that impacted the rest of his life,” and on the same day that Adkins started classes at Duquesne University, his friend began serving a prison sentence.
“It was absolutely brutal to watch – two lifelong friends who hit a fork in the road and ended up going down different paths,” said Adkins, 43, a Los Angeles resident who graduated with a degree in accounting and pursued entrepreneurship opportunities post-college. “We were much younger when it happened and didn’t understand at the time what having an offense on your record would mean. It handicapped him for several years, and he didn’t have the opportunities to develop the career he wanted to, and it left him playing catch-up. He’s now coming back on the other side of that and fulfilling his dreams. Living through that with him made me decide I wanted to do something about it.”
Since it opened, Destination Candy has hired four workers through Southwest Training Service’s OJT program, and two employees are currently in the program.
He said the company plans to hire two additional employees through OJT – which includes a training period that lasts up to six months – before summer, including a cook for the bakery.
Dr. Kevin Monaghan, business services coordinator for Southwest Training, applauded the efforts of Chris and Linda Adkins to make a positive difference in the Washington community and in the lives of people working to overcome challenging situations.
“Chris and Linda are the most caring and compassionate people I know. They take chances on people and they don’t write off people who most people would,” said Monaghan. “They do not judge anybody. They’ve hired people who have had blemishes on their record or who have struggled with drugs or alcohol, and they are willing to give them an opportunity, and that’s huge.”
And Destination Candy’s second-chance hiring practice has had tangible results: two former employees who have moved on to other jobs, with Destination Candy serving as the foundation to create a new path forward.
Adkins said his aim, through Destination Candy, is “to do our small part to make the world a better place.
“Everybody deserves a second chance,” said Adkins. “We hope that this (award) shines a light on the opportunities we as Washingtonians have to impact our neighbors’ lives every day by doing something small.”