SALMON CREEK — Girl Scout Troop 42561 has a history of helping others. Just within the last year, they’ve made blankets for cats and dogs at the Humane Society, donated about $500 to Share House and about $300 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and handed out cookies to patients at a veterans medical center.
And it all started with cookie sales.
“Would you like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies?” Maddy Surface, 12, asked shoppers leaving the Salmon Creek Fred Meyer on Sunday afternoon. Some said no thanks, while others bought several boxes.
The sixth-grader has spent about 30 hours this season selling cookies outside stores. In all, she’s sold nearly 900 boxes of cookies. Her troop, made up of sixth-graders from the Vancouver and Hazel Dell area, already has an idea of where some of those proceeds will go this year: a toy drive for children in need.
“They earn 70 cents per box,” Maddy’s mother and troop leader Amy Surface said. “From their earnings, they decide what they want to do.”
Of the recent service projects the girls have tackled, a couple stood out, they said. Spending time with veterans in a skilled nursing unit was memorable, as was volunteering at Share by filling backpacks with food for children in need.
“We packed up food for kids who don’t have a lot of food on the weekends,” Girl Scout Kendra Odren, 12, said. She added that “helping others gives you a warm feeling inside.”
Maddy Surface said volunteering at the veterans facility was special to her because she got to interact with the patients there. “We got to talk to them and learn their stories,” she said.
Girl Scout Amy Rapp, 12, said handing out cookies to the veterans “was really interesting and cool to do because they were really appreciative, and we played games with them afterwards, like chess.”
Her mother, Marla Rapp, said it isn’t always easy finding ways to encourage children to give back to the community.
“It’s challenging, but Girl Scouts has been a great method,” she said.
And the troop gets to treat itself every once in a while, too. Some of their earnings help pay for summer camp, and this year, the girls can afford a two-night stay at the Great Wolf Lodge water park in Grand Mound. They’ve been saving up for that trip since many of them joined the troop as first- or second-graders.
“We’re all really excited to go,” said Amy Rapp, who has sold about 150 boxes of cookies so far this season.
Pre-sales for the cookies started in January, and booth sales started last month. The cookie season ends March 15.
The hottest-selling cookies for the troop have been Thin Mints and Samoas — so much so that Amy Surface called in for reinforcements Sunday afternoon.
A mother from Troop 41978 stopped by for a trade. She dropped off boxes of Thin Mints in return for some Savannah Smiles cookies that her troop needed.
Amy Rapp said she’s learned through selling Girl Scout Cookies that “you have to work hard, and you have to have a goal.”
Approaching people outside stores also has taught her how to talk to people, she said.
“Girl Scouts has really changed me as a person,” Amy Rapp said. “I’ve gotten more open and more courageous.”
Maddy Surface said her involvement in the troop has fostered healthy relationships.
“I’ve had some new friends,” she said. “My friends in Girl Scouts won’t judge me or anything.”
