Photo By Amabilia Payen | A certificate of appreciation was present to Aggie Reyes, product sales manager for...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas - The Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest loaded 13,056 boxes of donated Girl Scout cookies into containers at the Silas L. Copeland Arrival/Departure Air Control Group airfield April 30, as part of the Gift of Caring Program.
Volunteers from the 2206th Mobilization Support Battalion, the Air Force and the Navy assisted the Girl Scouts with the packing and in minutes, all the boxes were neatly packed away in three containers.
“It’s my favorite day of the year. I love this day because it’s really an exciting day and it shows how much our girls really value the military and the Soldiers,” said Diane Flanagan, chief executive officer for the GSDSW. “Every girl, when they are at a booth selling cookies, always has a donation basket or combat boot to collect the money for Soldiers.”
The Girl Scouts Troop 05843 from northeast El Paso, donated 1,400 boxes for Soldiers, and were there to package the boxes of cookies into the containers. From that troop was Kaitlyn Bandine, who has been with the GSDSW for four years.
“It’s a wonderful thing to do for Soldiers that are overseas, and it feels good,” Bandine said. “I want to thank all the Girl Scouts.”
Girl Scouts across the nation sell cookies every year, and members of the GSDSW are proud of their records.
“There (are) 112 councils in the country,” Flanagan said. “Our council last year was the number one council for membership growth. Our council grew by 5 percent and that was number one in the nation. We had 15 girls this year sell over 3,200 boxes each and that is a record.”
Although the girls were rewarded with many gifts, the ultimate prize for their record-breaking efforts was a free trip to Disney World, Flanagan said. As a troop, they will travel with staff members and their parents to enjoy a week’s worth of fun at the vacation resort located in Orlando, Florida this summer.
“I want to thank all the girls for what they do for the Soldiers,” Flanagan said. “Thank you Fort Bliss for allowing us to come out here and do this. We are so welcomed and it’s such a great atmosphere. Also thanks to the parents who put in so much effort too. So really it’s a collective effort and we all work very hard.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Jane Baldwin, senior noncommissioned officer, 2206th MSB, is ensuring the cookies get to Soldiers overseas.
“I called their first sergeants and they are waiting for these cookies,” Baldwin said. “When they arrive, they promised me pictures so we can give them to the Girl Scouts so they can see the results of all their hard work.”
After the packaging was complete, the leadership of the 2206th MSB, on behalf of Fort Bliss, presented the GSDSW with a certificate of appreciation for the hard work done in collecting the money for the donated cookies.
The Mobilization and Deployment branch of the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security, along with both 2206th and 2208th MSBs, have supported the Gift of Caring Project for many years and are happy to continue to do so for the Girl Scouts.
| Date Taken: | 05.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.14.2015 16:13 |
| Story ID: | 163336 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Hometown: | EL PASO, TX, US |
| Hometown: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 102 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Girls Scouts donate cookies to deployed service members, by Amabilia Payen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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