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Troop 660 Bownie Girl Scouts
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Brownie Girl Scout Troop #660, a troop that consists of second- and third- graders from Nisswa Elementary School, collected 15 cases of Girl Scout cookies for recovering soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The cookies were collected during the troop's annual cookie drive. The postage to send all of those boxes through the mail was donated by the local chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America.
As part of Girl Scout USA's national cookie drive, Girl Scout troops can choose a charity or organization to solicit additional sales through the organization's "cookie share" program. For the second year in a row, troop #660 chose to send the cookies to recovering soldiers and their families at Walter Reed.
"The cookie share program is a wonderful way to reach people who want to support Girl Scouts, but who may not want the cookies for themselves," said Shannon Kratochvil, co-leader of the troop. "By donating to our chosen cookie share cause, they can feel good about supporting a local Girl Scout troop as well as our U.S. troops."
Troop #660 consists of 15 girls, all whom set individual cookie sale goals and pushed to sell those extra boxes for the soldiers. The troop also held a cookie booth sale at Schaefer's Foods over a chilly weekend in late March.
When all was said and done, the troop had 15 cases of cookies to mail.
The local chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America (Lakes Area Chapter 4), a group consisting of mothers of children who are serving, or have served, in the armed forces, stepped forward to pay the nearly $160 in postage.
"We really appreciate Blue Star Mothers of America's support and willingness to cover our postage expenses for our cause," said Amy Gitchell, troop co-leader. "For a Girl Scout troop, $160 is a lot of money. Money that could be used for educational field trips or meeting activities."
