God Bless the U.S.A.

I've said this before, but I LOVE my girl scouts. Yesterday I got an email from another girl scout leader that she needed girls for a deployment of sailors going over to the middle east. The girls were needed to hand cookies out to the soldiers for their long flight, and as a morale boost. So, if you've ever been asked by a girl scout if you want to donate a box of cookies to the soldiers this is what happens to all of those donated boxes.

I had initially thought to only take Big Al (T-Rex was thinking she wanted a break from scouts), but when I mentioned it at dinner last night Blondie and Cheesie asked if they could go too since they were scouts. Well, of course. At the last minute today T-Rex decided to come as well, and I'm glad she did. Blondie decided, on her own, to start coloring a bunch of pictures for soldiers, and by this afternoon had about 25 or so to hand out - they said things like "you're my hero", etc. We arrived at a hangar near the airport and joined a bunch of people setting up tables. The blue star mothers, VFW, VA, Boy scouts, and even Harley riders showed up to support the men and women about to deploy. We had four busloads of soldiers coming in before they got on their plane, and before they left they walked around to the tables, grabbed a bunch of goodies, called home one last time, ate pizza and donuts, and relaxed a bit. Some tables had food, others handed out decks of cards, or used paperback books. One group created these dolls called Dang-It dolls for soldiers to take out their frustrations on (the girls were interested in learning to make those). The girls handed out bags, and tried to get the soldiers to take a bunch of the cookies donated by our city.

At first the soldiers were reluctant and wanted to donate money to the girls, but the girls got out there and explained the program, and how when they sell cookies people donate money and boxes specifically for soldiers. Eventually we made sure just about everyone had a box or two. The men and women were incredibly nice, and thanked the girls again, and again for just showing up.

Blondie kept handing out her pictures, and I was so proud of her because she came up with it on her own, and carried it through completely. This picture shows the soldiers talking to her about it. T-Rex was excited to meet a Medal of Honor recipient, and the whole group took a picture with him (I don't have it yet). My mom also showed up to take pictures, so I'm hoping to have another post with more to show.

I can't tell you enough what an uplifting evening it was. All of my girls were thrilled to be part of it, and it showed them first hand how grateful folks are for their hard work. It was VERY hot tonight, but even the little girls hung in there for about 3 hours. Think about calling your local VFW to find out about a deployment in your area - it was wonderful to participate.