|
Operation Cookie Drop |
 |
|
Operation Cookie Drop began in the aftermath of 9/11. Out of a desire to do something that would let our brave servicemen and women know we were thinking of them, Girl Scout communities all over the Hudson Valley were sending cards, letters and boxes of Girl Scout cookies to as many servicemen and women they could.
|
In 2003, the Ardsley Girl Scout Community developed a relationship with US Naval Reserve station in Fort Dix, and began a partnership with the Navy directly delivering the cookies to the troops overseas. What started with about 4,000 boxes of cookies had grown to around 27,500 boxes by 2007. In 2008, Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson provided 41,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies and 2009 was even bigger with donations totaling around 47,000 boxes.
|
|
On June 13, 2009, 498 Girl Scouts participated in loading tractor trailers, cars and vans with the help of 18 sailors from Fort Dix. Over 41,000 boxes of cookies were loaded up that day and shipped out by the Navy to Kuwait. Another 6,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies were dropped at West Point to be distributed by cadets to injured soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center, mailed out to local soldiers through the Mid Hudson Valley Semper Fi organization, flown out by the 101st Airborne out of Stewart Airport to Iraq, and mailed out by individual troops and communities to local New York Marines and soldiers who are serving. |
The cookies are sent with stickers and cards letting our soldiers know we are thinking of them. The goal of the project is to send a sweet taste of home to as many of our brave men and women serving their country overseas as we can.
Every year we have been honored to receive thank you notes from grateful soldiers saying how much the gift of the box of cookies means to them. Letters have come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Washington, DC, The Arab Emirates, and from the decks of air craft carriers. Through the many treasured notes, letters and emails we received from our brave service men and women serving our country, we can see what a huge impact our small donation of a box of Girl Scout cookies has in the hands of a soldier so far from home.
