Care Packages Cater
To Soldiers' Sweet Teeth

By Annemarie Mannion
Tribune staff reporter

Chicago Tribune
April 5, 2007

Members of the military who have been missing out on munching Thin Mints and other Girl Scout cookies will soon be able to indulge their taste for those sweets, thanks to Operation Care Package and the Girl Scouts of Fox Valley Council 160.

The Scouts collected about 2,500 boxes of the sweet treats to be sent by Operation Care Package to troops serving in the United States and abroad.

The Joliet-based, non-profit organization has a list of 1,200 soldiers and 150 units to which it sends care packages that include such items as hygiene products, socks, batteries and snacks. It usually sends about 140 care packages a week.

"Our goal is to reach troops that don't get mail but we will send to anyone" [in the military], said Debbie Smothers, a founder of Operation Care Package.

Volunteers this week packed the donated cookies. The boxes were collected as the girls conducted their annual cookie sale.

"They'd ask people buying them if they wanted to buy an extra box to donate to the troops," said Smothers.

The Scouts exceeded their mission. Smothers said she asked for 1,200 boxes of cookies and got about 2,500.

For information on Operation Care Package, call 815-723-6960 or visit
operationcarepackages.org