Stories from
our own troops
about their Troop to Troop experiences.
STORY 1: Troop 975
This was our first year selling
cookies. We set a goal of 50 boxes per girl and
ended up with an average of 157 boxes sold per girl!
Our
troop sold 17 cases of cookies for the troops which
comes out to 204 boxes of cookies for the troops
from Troop 975!!
The
best story we heard during our cookies sales came
from one of our booth sales. Our booth was decorated
with American flags, red white and blue balloons,
and streamers... all centered around our Troop to
Troop display (see photo). A young woman came out
of the store and asked us about our Troop to Troop
sales. After we explained the program, she pulled a
piece of paper out of her wallet which had a
handwritten note thanking her for her service to our
country from "the Girl Scouts." She said that she
was a member of the armed services and while
overseas last year received that note with a box of
Girl Scout cookies. She said she carries that note
with her to this day.
What
a wonderful encounter for our girls working that
booth... it put a human face on our project. We
never did get her name but she purchased two boxes
of cookies for the troops and wrote a note to go
with them!!
We
feel it was an excellent program and our troop was
thrilled to participate.
Sincerely,
Missy Boldt and Brenda Moore
Cookie Managers, Troop #975
1st grade Brownies from Fruchthendler Elementary
School (16 girls)
STORY 2: Troop 1852
Troop to troop is such a wonderful
program. Two years ago, our Girl Scout troop sent
cookies to the deployed troops through the "Gift of
Caring." My daughter who was then a Brownie, took a
strong role in asking anyone and everyone if they
would like to purchase a box of cookies for the
troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. We had a
lot of generous people donate cookies, and with the
efforts of all of the girls in the troop, we sent
over a nice big shipment of cookies. My husband was
one of the deployed service members at that time,
stationed in the Middle East, and we sent several
large boxes over to the personnel he was deployed
with. At that time, we knew the aircrew going over
to Iraq, so we simply loaded large shipping boxes
filled with Girl Scout cookies, and I brought them
to the squadron that was all set to leave. We
cleverly left a couple boxes of Thin Mints out for
the aircrew to munch on while they set course for
the 20+ hour long flight overseas. My husband said
that the men and women he was deployed with were
touched and really excited to get Girl Scout
cookies!
Last
year, through the Gift of Caring, our troop adopted
the Food Bank as recipients of cookies. This was
successful, but my daughter continued to ask family
members and friends if they wanted to donate a box
to the troops. Since we had a military connection
we ended up sending cookies to the troops, and did
our own "family gift of caring," sending the cookies
over to a Commander we knew in the Middle East (my
family just mailed them), and the people who
received cookies were very thankful for them.
This
year, we were thrilled to hear about Troop to
Troop. How convenient that we could drop off the
cookies at a central point and have them
distributed. Not only that, the public was very
generous with donations. We had people that would
buy cookies for themselves and would come back to
the booth after being approached if they would
please consider donating a box to the troops. If
someone said they had already bought cookies, our
Girl Scouts could be heard asking, "would you
consider donating a box or two to our wonderful
troops in overseas?" We had people that would say,
"I only have a couple of dollars, but can you put
that toward cookies for the troops?" The public
response was really gratifying, especially since so
many people have a military family member, or know
someone who does. Either way, it is a great way to
reach out and say "thanks". Our troop was very
proud to have contributed 377 boxes of
cookies for the deployed troops this year.
Having a husband in the military, as well as many
military friends stationed around the world,
including the Middle East, I can tell you that it is
the little things (such as Girl Scout cookies) that
bring a bit of "normalcy" and a little bit of "home"
to our service men and women. These are the morale
boosts that mean so much.
Troop to Troop is great!
Thanks for letting me chime in.
Sincerely, The Hansen Family
Jennifer Hansen
Troop #1852
STORY 3:Troop 152
We have a girl in our troop, Alessia
S., whose dad, Ricardo, is Italian. On a business
trip to Italy during cookie season he asked friends
and family if they could donate 20 Euros each to our
Troop-to-Troop drive. What's bad news for U.S.
travelers was a boon for Alessia. Thanks to the
strong Euro her dad came back with over $400, making
her total Troop-to-Troop contribution 153 boxes of
cookies. (Our total troop contribution was 315
boxes.) During a time when the U.S. is getting some
pretty bad press overseas it's nice to think that
some of the cookies our deployed troops will be
enjoying are courtesy of our Italian allies.
Trudy Meckler, Troop 152
STORY 4: Troop 1507
Gift of Caring has always been a big
part of our cookie season. During our first year as
Brownies we gave to the Ronald McDonald house.
During our second year as second graders we took a
tour of the RMH and delivered the cookies. The girls
felt good donating to families of sick children.
Helping kids their own age is powerful.
Last
year as third graders, the news of the war had made
a big impression on the girls who really wanted to
send their Gift of Caring cookies to soldiers
overseas. We chose a young man known to the
community, Isaac Greenberg. He was serving in
Afghanistan. We decided to send all our Gift of
Caring cookies to him and his outfit.
We
had to send the cookies and pay the shipping to get
them to a base in California. We paid $45.00 postage
to mail the cookies to Sgt. Greenberg's outfit last
year, which equaled about five cases. The girls
enjoyed making cards for the soldiers which were
sent along with the cookies.
This
year is our first year as Juniors. The girls decided
to do our Gift of Caring for a local homeless
shelter and to use some our profits to feed homeless
children. The troop also wanted to participate in
the Troop to Troop cookie drive. When the girls sold
cookies and offered the option of either a local
homeless shelter or Troop to Troop, they were
surprised to see how passionate folks were about
their options. The Tucson community was eager to
donate to the troops. The girls enjoyed writing
notes to the troops for people who chose not to
write their own.
We
were able to support two great causes with Council
running the Troop to Troop. The money that might
have been spent on shipping cookies, we spent on
food for the homeless in Tucson. We made 55 sack
lunches at a cost of $50.00. The Troop to Troop
experience was wonderful for troop #1507. We sold
over 10 cases for charitable causes this year. Thank
you Council members for helping organize Troop to
Troop.
Sincerely,
Nancy Cohen
Troop leader and Cookie Manager for troop #1507
STORY 5: Troop 1350
Our troop had a great cookie season.
We sold well over our troop goal, and thanks to this
great community we live in, that supported our Girl
Scout troops and made it possible for us to be able
to send all those cookies to military troops
overseas. Our troop has done this before on their
own and it was a success.
Nancy Roddey Troop 1350
STORY 6: Troop 1185
This our Brownie Troop with our
"Troop to Troop" Cookies.
We sold 229 boxes of cookies for troops stationed
overseas!
Because we have a lot of military families in our
area, our Cookie Mom, Aronda, thought it would be a
great idea to have a "mock" handoff to those parents
in our troop that are serving in the armed forces.
We asked these parents to come to our meeting in
uniform so we could present our Troop to Troop
cookies to them.
The
girls really enjoyed seeing first-hand what all
their hard work was for and this opportunity was
especially meaningful as one of our girl's dad who
had just returned from serving overseas.
While our girls were not able to attend the official
drop off of Troop to Troop cookies, we were still
able to experience what the event was all about and
feel proud of our amazing accomplishments on behalf
of the Armed Forces.
Thank you for the opportunity to share our
experience and story. We feel honored to be a part
of such a positive initiative.
Sincerely,
Brownie Troop #1185
Story 7: Troops 1062 and 1335
Girls from Brownie Troop 1062 and Junior Troop 1335
were very excited about the opportunity to collect
donations for cookies to send to the military
troops. They created posters and asked almost every
person that bought cookies if they would like to
donate to the troops. The response from customers
was fantastic. We even had a couple people donate a
whole case of cookies to the troops! This was a
great opportunity for the girls to learn about
giving back to the community while at the same time
learning about sales and a small taste of running
your own business. The girls dropped off about 375
boxes of cookies on April 5th, they were very proud
of their efforts and the opportunity
to deliver the spoils of their hard work. |
