Girl Scout Cookies Tagalong with deployed sailors
Mark and Rebecca Thornsberry’s Upper St. Clair home was devastated by a fluke electrical fire nine years ago. They weren’t home for the blaze, but they lost most of their possessions. Having moved from Georgia just two years earlier, they assumed only family would come to their aid. But the couple — they own Chick-fil-A on Route 19 — had a community of customers and neighbors shower them with help.
Mrs. Thornsberry calls it a “pivotal point” for the family, which has made charitable community projects a monthly endeavor for their two girls, Ansley, 9, and Caroline, 7. They’ve delivered food to the Upper St. Clair Volunteer Fire Dept., raised $130 for City Mission with a lemonade stand, and more. But one particular project has really taken off.
When the Thornsberry girls had just one day left of Girl Scout Cookie selling last year, their mom thought aloud, “I wish we knew someone in the military.” Then she remembered Andrew Casson, their neighbors’ son and a Navy F-18 fighter pilot who’d deployed just weeks before. After clearing the idea with his mother, Susan Casson, Mrs. Thornsberry asked Facebook friends to donate boxes of cookies to be sent to Lt. Casson and his shipmates on the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Within 24 hours, people bought100 boxes of cookies for the 5,000-person aircraft carrier. Before the boxes were shipped, the Thorns berrys, Cassons and friends affixed hand written cards to each box with sentiments such as, “Thank you for your service,” “So proud of you” and “Go Navy!” The arrival of the shipment was a surprise for Lt. Casson, 29, who spread the treats to as many sailors as possible. According to his wife of five years, Leigh, it was a welcome “taste of home” and a great way to break up the menu at sea, which “can get a little redundant.”
The response cleared the runway for a more robust effort this year.
Girl Scout Cookie selling lasts for three weeks in January, as any Thin Mint-lover knows. According to Caroline’s troop leader, Nicole Saniga, Girl Scouts had to “get real creative this year” since door-to-door sales were stymied by COVID-19. Despite the extra challenge, the Thornsberry girls doubled last year’s goal, hoping to sell 200 boxes for the USS Roosevelt. According to Ms. Saniga, scouts sell 200 to 250 boxes on average. Ansley and Caroline crushed their goal and sold 750 boxes meant for the Navy ship, credit they’ll split evenly.
Ms. Saniga is wowed by the girls’ extra effort but said that “it isn’t anything out of theordinary for that family.”
The girls will earn plenty of Girl Scouts swag: journals, canteens, socks, pillows, stuffed animals, Super Seller patches and a recognition dinner. But Mr. and Mrs. Thornsberry make sure the girls know this is more than a cookie-selling contest. Caroline explains she likes the project because “the Navy protects us.” Ansley, who remembers some of their smaller service projects, prefers this one because “it helps a lot of people.”
To ship the 750 cookie boxes — a journey that takes at least four weeks — Mrs. Casson already has purchased 14 shipping boxes and expects she’ll need more. Although she initially rebuffed offers of money, she’s grateful for donations toward shipping costs, which are estimated at over $700.
The handmade cards have extended the project’s community of helpers. The girls’ classrooms — first and third grade at Upper St. Clair’s Eisenhower Elementary School — are using indoor recess time to create their share. Friends and family are volunteering, too. The colorful 4-by-6-inch pieces of construction paper are decorated with handdrawn comic strips, airplanes, hearts and flags, with sayings such as, “I’m sorry that you’re far away from your family.” That’s one that hits home for Leigh.
When her husband is deployed, it’s “the little things” and “his friendship” she misses the most, as she runs their Virginia Beach, Va., home and cares for their 14month-old son, Nolan. For her, “There isn’t much of the general public who thinks about the number of people who are deployed all the time,” which can make Blue Star families feel a bit invisible. But the sweetness of the Thornsberry family — and 750 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies — has helped.
As Mrs. Casson explains, “It makes you feel like other people get it a little bit.”