A sweet surprise awaited Seward’s first responders this March — and it came straight from local Girl Scouts and supportive community members.
Seward Girl Scout Troop 20622 collected and dispersed 139 packages of donated cookies for local first responders, including the Seward Police Department, Seward County Sheriff’s Office, Seward Fire & Rescue, Seward County 911 and Seward County Emergency Management.
Girl Scout co-leader Alison Kumbier said the troop extends a big thank you to the community for purchasing boxes of Girl Scout Cookies to be donated to first responders.
The scouts voted on who they wanted the cookie donations to benefit this year. After learning that they have not donated to first responders before, the decision was unanimous.
“Everybody picked the first responders, because we were like ‘these guys are really important, and they don’t have any cookies yet!’” Girl Scout Agatha said. “Everybody was like, ‘FIRST-RE-SPON-DERS!’”
Agatha said it was fun and exciting to see the number of donations stack up as she collected boxes. At the same time, keeping track of donations gave her an extra challenge.
“I’m already selling cookies, but then I also have to ask about donations before the person leaves, because usually when they grab the cookies, they just take off,” she said. “And, when we did credit card sales, I had to ask before they made the payment.”
The troop, which sold 2,954 boxes of cookies as a whole this season, sold cookies door-to-door and at booths. Agatha said selling cookies helped her learn about business.
“I like challenging myself to reach higher goals every year, and it helps me for day camps and prizes, but it also helps me learn how to be better with money and be able to count money easier and all that sales stuff,” she said.
Kumbier said it is essential that girls not only develop entrepreneurial skills to raise money for their troop but also for good causes.
“I think it’s really important for girls to understand the importance of community resources and how to celebrate those, especially local heroes like the first responders who are actively working to keep us safe at all times,” she said. “Just knowing the importance of giving back to your community and celebrating people who help, I think, is really important.”
Agatha, a Brownie-level (2-3 grade) scout, and Hazel, a Daisy-level (K-1 grade) scout, helped Kumbier distribute the cookies on March 20 and 27. Agatha and Hazel were the two troop members who put in the most time selling at booths.
“The first responders were super excited,” Kumbier said. “They were kind of confused when we were carrying all of these boxes, but then we told them it was a donation and how the girls voted and everything, and they were very excited and very grateful, as well.”
Agatha thanked the Seward community for all of their donations.
“I enjoyed getting to see how happy they were when they got them,” Agatha said.
