As many of you may know, a key component of the annual Girl Scout Cookie Program is the Gift of Caring project. Through the Gift of Caring project, Girl Scouts donate purchased Girl Scout cookies to an organization they feel would benefit from the gift of cookies. Girl Scouts of Central Maryland has designated Operation US Mint – which provides cookies to U.S. military personnel serving overseas– as the Gift of Caring recipient. Each year hundreds of girls participate in this program.
The purpose of Operation US Mint is to connect Girl Scouts in central Maryland to our brave men and women in uniform by sending soldiers care packages of Girl Scout cookies. This community service project gives the girls leadership experience, which is valuable for character-building. By working with and helping the U.S. Military, girls develop courage and confidence. While the military members do get cookies, this inspiring project has brightened the faces and lifted the spirits of many military members preparing to leave their homes and families.
Last year thousands of boxes of cookies were sent to soldiers in Iraq. One Troop decided to donate their Gift of Caring cookies to a unit serving in Iraq that had special meaning to them. The unit receiving the cookies was the same unit a Girl Scout’s cousin had served in and who died in the line of duty. The cookies were donated in the soldier’s memory. This year, many girls will be promoting the council’s Operation U.S. Mint Gift of Caring Project for soldiers returning from and being deployed overseas at the Marshall/BWI airport.
Want to help? Donate Girl Scout Cookie boxes at your local booth sale. A $4 box of delicious Girl Scout cookies is an easy way to say Thank You to the men and women serving our country — and to show you care. To find troops selling cookies in your neighborhood go to: http://cookielocator.littlebrownie.com/. Girl Scouts of Central MD are also looking for Corporate Cookie Sponsors who will help purchase the Girl Scout cookies that are handed directly to military personnel by our Girl Scout troops at the USO International Gateway Lounge at BWI Airport. For more information about Operation U.S. Mint and ways to give, contact Terry Mercer, Product Sales Manager, at tmercer@gscm.org.