Girl Scouts Show Support for US Troops – We Can, Too

Girl Scouts of Fishers Troop No. 953More than 25 Fishers area Girl Scout troops recently collected donations from community residents to purchase cookies exclusively for US soldiers serving overseas. With the help of a local business, Metro Plastics, more than 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies are being shipped to troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Carol Krol, troop leader of Girl Scout Junior Troop No. 953, works for Metro Plastics and arranged for the company to pay the postage on hundreds of boxes being sent directly to individual service men and women who will distribute them among their units.

“We had a list of over 20 names and addresses of soldiers and sent each of them 20 to 22 boxes of cookies,” Krol explained. “Our company employees helped prepare the boxes for shipment, and I estimate we spent around $400 in postage.”

Metro Plastics also sent more than 100 boxes to a military servicemen outreach organization based in New Hampshire, for distribution to their overseas contacts. “A few late-coming donations are still being collected which we will drive over to Wright-Patterson AFB where they will be included in ‘CARE’ packages for other soldiers,” adds Mrs. Krol.

Joyce Crowder is the mother of a US Marine who recently returned from Iraq. Along with her husband, Terry, she founded USMCFamilies.com and is one of the original founders of the Marine Parent Support Group, a local support group for parents of Marines. This year, her organization worked with Brownie Troop No. 1916 for a second time and was able to send more than 200 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to Marines overseas.

“The young girls seem to get a sense of satisfaction by showing support for the troops in this way,” Mrs. Crowder said.

Obviously, many adults find it rewarding to make such thoughtful gestures for the soldiers as well. Fishers residents handed over more than $4,000 to Girl Scouts to buy the cookies. Crowder points out that since she founded her organization, she has been contacted by countless people seeking advice on ways they can do more than just slap a yellow ribbon magnet on their car.

“Because our group includes family members of deployed Marines, we know exactly what items they are requesting, and we have the names and addresses where they can be sent,” she said.

Further evidence of Americans’ desire to support the troops was recently and inadvertently discovered by a local online gourmet coffee retailer, Javacoffeecafe.com. Thomas Crenshaw, co-owner of the company, became curious when he noticed an increase in orders being shipped to Afghanistan. He contacted the addressee of one of the shipments and learned that their product is popular with the soldiers because it is a rare but simple pleasure that ships well to remote regions.

“Apparently, the soldiers have been requesting coffee from family back home, so people stateside have been ordering it from us to be shipped directly overseas,” Crenshaw said. “Unlike other online coffee sellers, we do not have a problem shipping to APO and FPO addresses, and I guess that has made us popular.”

Anyone interested in learning more about how they can do something special to benefit the soldiers can email the Marine Parent Support Group at . In addition, the public is invited to attend the group’s Third Annual Support the Troops Rally on August 26 downtown at the Indiana War Memorial from 1 to 3 p.m. There will be live music and an appearance by the Patriot Guard Riders.

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