PDA

View Full Version : Cookie comfort for troops



thedrifter
05-22-07, 07:56 AM
Posted on Tue, May. 22, 2007
Cookie comfort for troops
Elms Girl Scouts send 1,200 boxes of treats to grateful forces in Iraq
By Connie Bloom
Beacon Journal staff writer

Girl Scout Troop 630 at Our Lady of the Elms school knows first hand how the cookie crumbles, how much it weighs and how much you'll pay to ship it to Iraq.

What the 18 fifth-graders didn't know when they began their 1,200-box cookie caper last November was just how grateful American troops would be to nibble on a Samoa once again.

``We have 5,500 Marines, sailors and Army stationed at Al-Saad (Iraq) and we spread the cookies all over, so everyone got some,'' Marine 2nd Lt. Greg Simms, 29, said at the school Monday.

``They tasted really good. We don't get a lot of sweets over there.''

The Akron native projected photos of smiling soldiers he had snapped in Iraq. They were holding Thin Mints, Tag Alongs and All Abouts that were distributed on Easter Day.

The soldier, stepson of fifth-grade teacher Laurie Simms, was in town to move his family to Maine and stopped to say thanks in person and share ice cream with the girls.

His wife, Marchelle, sat in the crowd of crisply uniformed girls, teachers and parents.

That included Brownie Troop 523, also 18 strong and based at the school, who sent peanut butter crackers, diaper wipes, gum, peanuts and paper supplies via the half-year-long, $6,000 project that netted smiles all around.

Every case of cookies required a customs form, said Troop 630 cookie manager Missy Schoenbaechler.

``Every year, the girls do a Gift of Caring Project,'' she said.

The 1,200 boxes of cookies sent to Iraq were given in memory of student Julia Klein's mom, Amy, who died in January.

``It was a lot of work, but it made you feel good,'' said Julia, a member of Troop 630.

Courtney Cline, also a Girl Scout, said she was glad to help ``all the people who don't have time to have any fun.''

The wheels of long-distance cookie comfort are slow-turning.

After the troops sold enough cookies to send, they spent another couple of months wrapping them, making cards and writing letters.

Meanwhile, Schoenbaechler corresponded with Simms via e-mail to work out the logistics of sending and receiving.

Cases of cookies arrived over a period of months and Simms stacked them in his office until he had them all.

Then he and a few other soldiers ``shuffled'' them, putting all the flavors in every box.

On top of that, Simms found time to drop by the school and say thanks in person.

``I was blown away he found time for us,'' said Schoenbaechler. ``It worked out pretty good.''

You can reach Connie Bloom at 330-996-3568 or e-mail cbloom@ thebeaconjournal.com.

Ellie