Treat a Troop
Authors: Skylar Rick
Girl Scout troops participating in the donation will be located by the 1st National bank by Sweet Sensations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dieters need not be wary because this year instead of sending Girl Scout cookies straight to the thighs, they can be sent straight to the troops.
Buyers have the option of donating the cookies, which will be sold Feb. 15, 22 and 23, to the troops and the families of those overseas.
"We felt that we needed to do something to say that we support the troops, not necessarily the war, but the people putting their lives on the line everyday," said Ri Romero, diversity coordinator for CSU in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.
Silver Wings, a community service organization associated with the Air Force ROTC, will collect the cookies after they are sold and bring them to the local army base where they will be distributed.
"When the Girl Scouts are done, we'll take the donations to Fort Carson and help them package up the cookies to send to Iraq," said Robyn Goertzen, a senior sociology major and president of Silver Wings. "The new part for this year is sending them to the troops families as well."
This split between the troops and their families comes as a request from the government to help keep the troops healthy while in combat.
"The Department of Defense doesn't want a lot of cookies sent overseas, because they don't eat very well already," said Diane Locke, Girl Scout 291 troop leader. "That's why it's probably more helpful to send them to the troops families."
From those cookies given to the relatives of those at war, there is still a chance of them reaching the troops in care packages.
Romero agrees this collection helps not only with the morals of those fighting overseas, but for those who are waiting for their loved ones to come home.
"The whole family is impacted by one member being gone," she said.
This is the second year of the donations and because of the overwhelming response, there will be more Girl Scouts to sell cookies.
In its first year, the organizations were able to collect more than three crates of cookies for the troops and this year optimism encourages the goal to increase.
"Last year we had 300 boxes total. We even had one member of upper administration at CSU who bought 40 boxes because that's how many serve in a platoon," Romero said. "We're hoping we can do even better than 300, because I don't think the moral is doing any better. It gives the troops a little bit of home on the front lines."
Skylar Rick can be reached at campus@collegian.com