KINGFIELD — The girls in Girl Scout Troop #54 were looking forward to springtime cookie sales. In fact, the troop purchased cases of cookies to sell at area booths in an effort to raise money.
“The troop’s share, 75 cents a box, is put toward our end of the year trip, badges and vests,” said Carolyn Bachelder, who co-leads the troop with Molly Clark. “We also renew all the girls’ memberships so it’s less of a burden on parents.”
The girls planned to hold six cookie sales in locations throughout the area. They were able to get in three of those sales before getting word from Girl Scout headquarters there would be no more cookie sales after March 15 due to concerns over COVID-19.
They were devastated. They also had a ton of cookies on hand with no real way to sell them.
Girl Scout Troop #54, pictured from left, back row Lily Gillespie, Althea Veilleux, and Trinity Bachelder; front row Maisie Clark, Giovanna Caldwell, Adeline Ehrlenbach, Elsie Clark, Willow Bachelder, Daniela Flores and Yhancee LeBlanc. Submitted photo
“Our parents all posted on their personal social media pages and used word of mouth to get rid of what cookies we could,” Bacheldor said.
Cookie overload woes quickly traveled all the way to the Gulf of Mexico where Girl Scout Yhancee LeBlanc’s father, Brian LeBlanc, works as a chief engineer on the Pacific Sharav, an ultra-deepwater drillship.
“It came up in conversation that Yhancee’s troop was sitting on a bunch of cookies,” Brian said Monday in a message sent from the vessel. “My co-workers have always been extremely supportive of everyone’s kids’ programs but I had toned down pushing cookie sales on the rig because of the difficulty of getting them all to the ship.”
It didn’t take long for a couple of Brian’s co-workers to come up with a solution. They would buy the cookies … all the cookies.
“I think the great part of the whole thing is that they didn’t even know how much it was going to be,” Brian said. “Twigg – he goes by Twigg, just Twigg – just said, ‘Find out how much they are stuck with and we’ll come up with the money’.”
The men pooled their money and purchased the remaining 40 boxes of cookies from the troop.
But what Roger Twigg of Leesville, Louisiana, Bobby “Gunny” Keyes of Victoria, Texas and Lane Fuller of Opp, Alabama did next is a true testament to not only supporting a co-worker’s daughter but to supporting the entire troop’s vision.
Oilfield hands Lane Fuller of Opp, Alabama, Roger Twigg of Leesville, Louisiana and Bobby “Gunny” Keyes of Victoria, Texas pooled their money together to buyout an overstock of excess cookies from Girl Scout Troop #54 in Kingfield. Submitted photo
“They said to have the troop donate the cookies to a worthy cause of their choice,” Brian said.
For the last eight years, the troop has donated cookies to American Legion Norton-Wuori Post 61 and to VA Maine Healthcare-Togus, Bachelder said.
The troop still plans on doing so, which is fitting since Twigg and Keyes are Marine Corp veterans. But the girls wanted to do more.
“We also want to give thanks to workers at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and to local truck drivers,” Bachelder said.
Bachelder is not sure when the cookies will be able to be delivered to the hospital but she has no doubt it will happen.
“We will get the cookies to them,” she said. “With everything going on right now, the girls wanted to give where they could to those in need of a pick-me-up.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
