“I really wanted to sell cookies because my dad and our family friend were in the military,” said Destiny.
The cookie project started two years ago when Troop #932 decided to take their annual cookie sales and team up with Operation Gratitude to send donated boxes to the troops serving in the military. All of the girls were enthusiastic about being able to bring some joy to the service men and women.
“We all participate in selling Girl Scout cookies; we work as a team,” said Debbie Bright, Destiny’s mom and the troop’s leader for four years.
However, it was Destiny’s devotion to the Operation Gratitude program that made her work so rigorously to achieve her goal, doubling her previous year’s donation from 500 to 1,000 boxes.
“The first year she sold 2,011 with 500 going to the troops [through Operation Gratitude], and last year her goal doubled to 1,000 cookies for Operation Gratitude,” said Debbie.
Destiny had a solid strategy to achieve this goal that evolved from a simple question asked of her grandmother.
“I asked my grandma if she wanted to buy some cookies, [and] she said no,” remembered Destiny. “And I then asked if she would like to buy some for the troops and she said yes.” Armed with this simple question, she went to the street. She asked door-to-door and approached each person who entered the supermarket if they would like to buy cookies or donate a box to the troops.
If people did not have sufficient money to buy a box for the soldiers, they could donate what they had to a fund that the Girl Scouts could combine with other cash donations to buy additional boxes.
However, the hard work didn’t end there as Destiny and her mother made other attempts to sell even more boxes.
