Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson’s (GSHH) Operation Cookie Drop’s Load up Day was held on Saturday, June 9, 2018 at the Westchester County Police Academy.
Cookies that were donated as part of the GSHH Council Gift of Caring in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, were dropped off by cars, mini-vans and even a group of “bikers” from a local Veterans Group.
Hundreds of Girl Scouts and adult volunteers from the Hudson Valley, local servicemen and servicewomen and special guests were in attendance to help sort, pack, write thank you cards, and meet some men and women who serve in our Military. These cookies have been delivered to Honor Flight Events in the Hudson Valley, delivered to Fleet Week and will be shipped abroad, stateside and in military hospitals.
Attendees were treated to performances by Master Sargent Mary Kay Messenger who is a West Point Concert Band Vocalist who sang the National Anthem, the GSHH Choir, The Dotted Half Notes and special guest Retired Colonel Chester B. Williams III.
Marie Reger, Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson’s CEO said, “This is an amazing opportunity for Girl Scouts to give back to the men and women who serve our country. They have an opportunity to speak to them, write appreciation cards and learn that a box of cookies from home means so much more. It means people from home, that they are protecting, remember them.”
Since 2002, GSHH’s Volunteer Alison Bergman has organized Operation Cookie Drop to show our appreciation to our brave servicemen and women. Operation Cookie Drop’s goal is to share a sweet taste of home for American servicemen and servicewomen deployed overseas. As far as Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson (GSHH) is concerned, the concepts of both “sweetness” and “home” can be best summed up by three magic words: Girl Scout cookies!