FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee delivered 70,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies to Fort Campbell last Friday, April 12.
Through its Gift of Caring program, Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee has partnered with Hugs for Our Soldiers, a nonprofit organization that supports troops serving overseas, for the last 10 years to show appreciation for our troops serving both at home and abroad.
Through the Gift of Caring program, Girl Scout troops choose an organization to support and offer customers the opportunity to purchase cookies as a donation. The 70,000-box donation serves as the culmination of a record-breaking cookie season for the Council, which for the first time ever sold more than two million boxes of cookies this year.
Photos courtesy of Girl Scouts of Middle TN
“We are so appreciative of our partnership with Girl Scouts and how it has grown over the last 10 years,” said Kathy Orcutt, Founder of Hugs for Our Soldiers. “Not only were we able to give every soldier at Fort Campbell a box, this donation allowed us to pass cookies onto USO, reservists, national guard members and many will be shipped to our troops overseas.”
Orcutt founded Hugs for Our Soldiers in 2003 while living with her family in Duluth, Georgia at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The all-volunteer organization, now based in East Tennessee, supports all branches of service and has touched the lives of over 350,000 service members through its programs.
“Our visits to Fort Campbell have become an annual highlight since we began partnering with Hugs for Our Soldiers,” said Tracy Tudder, Manager of Product Programs for Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee. “A spirit of service infuses every aspect of Girl Scouting, and we are honored to be able to support our men and women in uniform through the cookie program.”
Girl Scouts worked alongside several Fort Campbell brigades on Friday to unload and sort the cookies.
In addition to the cookies donated to Fort Campbell, Middle Tennessee Girl Scout troops donated 8,223 boxes of cookies to various other charities and organizations across Middle Tennessee this year.