Girl Scouts persist to give military troops sweet taste of home
Leave it to the Girl Scouts.
Given the chance to help boost morale among military personnel serving overseas, they came through, overwhelmingly.
Officials with the Yellow Ribbon Support Group in Palatine, who mounted Operation Cookie Drop two years ago, were shocked at this year's response, they say.
Their storage space on the second floor of the Palatine Police Station is jammed with cookies. In fact, they say they have no room to take any more.
"We never, ever thought we'd have a response like this," says Pat McCoy, who started the Yellow Ribbon Support Group in 2003. "We'll be sending cookies all year long."
Since January, they have received something like 6,200 boxes of cookies, from troops across the Northwest suburbs, who suggested to their customers that they purchase an extra box to donate to the troops.
The military effort helped to boost overall cookie sales throughout Cook and Lake counties, says Sandra Royer, senior communications director for the Illinois Crossroads Girl Scout Council.
"They are the ultimate symbol of home," McCoy adds, of the Girl Scout cookies.
Boxes have come in from troops in Arlington Heights, Cary, Hoffman Estates, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Palatine and Schaumburg.
Cadette Troop 3538 in Arlington Heights is the latest troop to come forward. Despite having just six members, they sold a record number of boxes -- 6,400 total -- including 1,200 designated for deployed military personnel.
"We're so proud of our girls," says Leader Kristie St. Pierre of Arlington Heights.
The problem was they sold so many boxes that the Palatine police officials had to turn them away. However, McCoy and her Yellow Ribbon network of supporters came through, and found a way to get those cookies to the troops.
They connected with South Barrington resident Joe Cantafio and his 101st Rock Division band, who are heading back out on a world tour in July, to entertain troops in Iraq. According to McCoy, Cantafio has agreed to take the latest cases of cookies with them.
"He's heading to the remote fire bases in Iraq," McCoy says. "So he'll be sure to get them to the guys who really need them."
Throughout the winter, as boxes came in, Yellow Ribbon volunteers packed a tube of cookies -- along with the other personal items and small compact meal -- in each flat rate priority box they shipped overseas.
Since 2003, they have sent more than 10,000 care packages to the troops.
They also continue to send packages of books, coffee, and Girl Scout cookies every month to medical officials at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, where injured soldiers are sent, before being transferred to specialty hospitals in the United States.
Officials with Starbucks, in Barrington, Arlington Heights and Palatine, already have donated 100 pounds of coffee for the effort.