thedrifter
11-29-06, 03:02 PM
Scout sends taste of home to Marines
11/29/06
MOHAMED MANSOUR
Ambitious Girl Scouts cookie sellers often aim to win a new bike or a trip to summer camp.
Not Allison Minick, a fourth-grader at Stoneleigh Elementary School.
When her uncle, Marine Lt. Col. James Minick, was deployed to Iraq in 2005, Allison, a member of the Junior Girl Scouts troop 25, wanted to send him some cookies.
Then the 9-year-old decided she wanted to do more.
"I thought the troops deserve a little treat," Allison said.
With the help of her mother, Sharon Minick, her brother Thomas and others in the community, she raised donations to buy more than 300 boxes and sent them to her uncle's 2nd Battalion, which has nearly 1,000 Marines.
This year, she was her troop's top seller, raising more than $2,000 --Êenough to send 600 boxes of cookies.
"She handwrote everyone who donated last year a thank-you letter," Sharon Minick said. "Everyone was thrilled to donate again."
All the troops wrote to Allison to thank her.
"One little box of cookies does wonders to a Marine's heart," wrote Lance Cpl. Richard A. Wilkens. "They were little boxes of joy for us."
While all of the Marines enjoyed the cookies, it did cause some controversy in the company.
"It started a whole new debate among us Marines on which type of Girl Scout cookie was the best," the Marines of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines wrote in a letter to Allison.
The general consensus?
"The chocolate mint are best at night with a glass of milk," wrote the Marines.
Allison said her goal wasn't just to send cookies to the troops.
"I did it so they know that people back home support them, and we want all the soldiers to come home safe," said Allison, who also collected and sent letters of support from students in her class.
Allison opted not to sell cookies except for those being sent overseas. She also decided to send the Marines any prizes she won from selling cookies. She had her sights set on a DVD player awarded at the 750-box level.
"We only raised 600," said Allison, who won a radio with attached drink cooler for her efforts."Maybe next year I'll win the DVD player."
Allison's uncle is on a yearlong deployment in Iraq, until September.
In a letter to Allison, her uncle wrote, "With Thanksgiving a few days away, it is very clear to me you have a complete understanding of the 'spirit of giving.'"
Allison and her mother plan to send cookies and letters for as long as possible.
"I told her she'll have to be a Girl Scout until she's 53," Sharon Minick said.
E-mail Mohamed Mansour at mm@patuxent.com
Ellie
11/29/06
MOHAMED MANSOUR
Ambitious Girl Scouts cookie sellers often aim to win a new bike or a trip to summer camp.
Not Allison Minick, a fourth-grader at Stoneleigh Elementary School.
When her uncle, Marine Lt. Col. James Minick, was deployed to Iraq in 2005, Allison, a member of the Junior Girl Scouts troop 25, wanted to send him some cookies.
Then the 9-year-old decided she wanted to do more.
"I thought the troops deserve a little treat," Allison said.
With the help of her mother, Sharon Minick, her brother Thomas and others in the community, she raised donations to buy more than 300 boxes and sent them to her uncle's 2nd Battalion, which has nearly 1,000 Marines.
This year, she was her troop's top seller, raising more than $2,000 --Êenough to send 600 boxes of cookies.
"She handwrote everyone who donated last year a thank-you letter," Sharon Minick said. "Everyone was thrilled to donate again."
All the troops wrote to Allison to thank her.
"One little box of cookies does wonders to a Marine's heart," wrote Lance Cpl. Richard A. Wilkens. "They were little boxes of joy for us."
While all of the Marines enjoyed the cookies, it did cause some controversy in the company.
"It started a whole new debate among us Marines on which type of Girl Scout cookie was the best," the Marines of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines wrote in a letter to Allison.
The general consensus?
"The chocolate mint are best at night with a glass of milk," wrote the Marines.
Allison said her goal wasn't just to send cookies to the troops.
"I did it so they know that people back home support them, and we want all the soldiers to come home safe," said Allison, who also collected and sent letters of support from students in her class.
Allison opted not to sell cookies except for those being sent overseas. She also decided to send the Marines any prizes she won from selling cookies. She had her sights set on a DVD player awarded at the 750-box level.
"We only raised 600," said Allison, who won a radio with attached drink cooler for her efforts."Maybe next year I'll win the DVD player."
Allison's uncle is on a yearlong deployment in Iraq, until September.
In a letter to Allison, her uncle wrote, "With Thanksgiving a few days away, it is very clear to me you have a complete understanding of the 'spirit of giving.'"
Allison and her mother plan to send cookies and letters for as long as possible.
"I told her she'll have to be a Girl Scout until she's 53," Sharon Minick said.
E-mail Mohamed Mansour at mm@patuxent.com
Ellie