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thedrifter
01-22-09, 04:45 AM
Scouts put face to military gift packs
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Created Jan 22 2009 - 3:10am

One area Daisy Scout troop is helping a U.S. Marine platoon with local ties through a Gift of Caring community-service project.

Members of Scott/Collier Daisy Scout Troop No. 50528 are among a dozen local Girl Scout troops involved in the project.

Troop members are having their usual Girl Scout cookie sale, but as the added project, they are soliciting help from the community to donate cookies to a group of Marines serving our country.

Members of Gunnery Sgt. Tony Palombi's unit, stationed in Camp Pendleton, Calif., are the lucky recipients of the sweet treat-filled boxes.

Palombi, a 1979 Chartiers Valley grad, has served in the military for 18 years.

He oversees nearly 50 Marines in his platoon. The unit has served in Hawaii, Alaska, and Japan.Next month, some of his platoon will be going to either Iraq or Afghanistan.

The six-member Daisy troop had the opportunity to meet Palombi on Dec. 29 before he returned to his West Coast base.

"It's a great feeling to be able to give back to the people that are protecting our future," says Lori Ferguson, a very active Daisy Scout mom.

"Tony was such a role model to them."

Ferguson says Palombi came to talk to the Scouts and took time out to show them how he received his metals, and what the honors mean.

"It's great that the troop (including her daughter Haleigh) was able to see who they were going to send the cookies to," Ferguson says.

"She tells everyone to send them to her friend Tony because he has a lot of people in his troop to give cookies to."

For Palombi, the feeling was mutual. He told the Scouts he is very thankful that the Girl Scout community is participating in this project for his platoon.

Troop leader Dana Humes of Scott Townshipsays this is the first time Daisy Scouts are allowed to sell cookies as Daisies. (They sold them in the fall of 2008 and now again in early 2009.)

Within the entire Girl Scout community, a larger-scale project called "Gift of Caring," where boxes of cookies were donated to troops, was instituted last year, but it was not continued this year.

The Chartiers-area Daisy troop decided to institute a smaller-scale project with help from other local troops.

As of press time, Troop No. 50528 had 75 boxes of cookies donated for Palombi's platoon. The Scouts hope to meet their goal of at least 100 boxes.

Ellie