Soldiers serving overseas don’t typically get to enjoy the annual treat of Girl Scout cookies, but this year is different. Girl Scouts from troop 1706 in Cedar Rapids are sending 26 cases — over 300 boxes — of their famous cookies overseas to Iowa Army National Guard troops serving in Iraq.
Cookie Mom, Wendy Schwarz, says when the girls went around selling cookies, they asked each customer to buy an extra box or two for the soldiers. Schwarz says, "Everyone wants to give them a little piece of home and Girl Scout cookies are pretty Americana." She says it’s a small gesture to the men and women who miss all the comforts of home.
"I can’t imagine how different it must be for them," Schwarz says. But it’s not just the soldiers who are benefiting from this project. Schwarz says the girls are learning more and more about the joys of giving back. Schwarz says, "I think it’s a quality that is diminishing with each generation and I think it’s important to keep it alive, that spirit of volunteerism."
While the men and women in the Iowa Army National Guard are doing their part to change the world, a group of 4th graders back home is trying to make their task a little easier one Thin Mint at a time. Shipping the huge boxes isn’t cheap, so the owner of Dostal Catering has offered to pay for it.