Kindness of Strangers

What do an actor, doctor, photographer, Jamba Juice employee and teenager all have in common? Each one of them along with hundreds of other generous souls donated one dollar to my daughter to purchase Girl Scout cookies for our Military troops. The program is called "Troop To Troops" and operates under the program Operation Gratitude. The Girl Scouts also make hand made cards to send along with those cookies. I hadn't thought too much about this program until the big Girl Scout cookie kick off. I helped to organize the cookie rally in my area over the past couple of months and one week ago, 600 Girl Scouts of all ages came together at a local university to celebrate the start of the cookie season. We had a booth for the girls to make cards to send to the troops with the cookies and next to that booth was a booth run by the Military, teaching the girls about Operation Gratitude. After the Cookie Rally my daughter was excited to get out to start selling cookies. In fact, she was so excited that she announced that her cookie goal was to sell 2,500 boxes! I encouraged her to dream big but to break down her big goal into small manageable goals. After some discussion, she agreed. Her first goal then was to sell 100 boxes of cookies. That way, she would feel successful as she reached each goal. The following day, she donned her uniform vest and we set out to sell cookies in our neighborhood. I reminded her to inform customers that they could donate a box of cookies to the troops since she had learned all about it the day before. She loved the idea but at each door we went to, her nervousness took over and she'd forget to ask. Basically, she'd just get out one sentence, "Would you like to buy Girl Scout cookies?" She had some success about half of the time, but the No's became discouraging. The No's started to get to her and she was ready to head home after an hour. I pushed her to try one last house before we packed it in. She blurted out her usual pitch and he politely said no but just as he was about to close the door, she remembered to ask him about donating a box of cookies to the troops. Immediately the door flew back open and the gentleman said, "The troops...what about the troops?" She explained the 'Troop to Troops" program and he cheerfully announced, "Of course I'll buy cookies for the troops!" Turns out that he is a Vietnam Vet and he handed her $10, chatted with us for 5 more minutes and we were on our way with our first donation for the troops. My daughter was so excited. That gentleman was so impressed with my daughter that he yelled for us to come back as we were walking away and decided to buy two boxes of cookies for his wife and to donate two more dollars for the troops. It was a heartwarming experience and it motivated my daughter to change her goals. She decided to concentrate on donations to buy cookies for the troops. We turned an empty Thin Mint box into a donation container and we set out to collect $400 to help her reach her first goal of getting 100 boxes of cookies donated for our troops. We went to Starbucks first and walked up to people sitting at tables. We brainstormed that instead of asking for the $4 to buy a whole box of cookies, she would ask for one dollar to put toward the purchase of a box. Each table we approached said yes. Some gave her more than a dollar. The only No's she received that day were from people who didn't have cash on them. Some offered credit cards but darn, I wish I had an app on my phone to run credit cards! In about 15 minutes time, she had over $30 in donations. Each day we did the same thing with the same successful results. Day after day, people would fill her Thin Mint box with dollar bills. Occasionally, we'd get a twenty, ten or a five dollar bill. Some strangers chatted with us briefly about the fact that they were Girl Scouts way back when and how much those years impacted them so positively. Most people offered smiles and gratitude to my daughter for focusing on the troops. Everyone that handed us money were genuinely happy to help. One guy in marketing said that it was wonderful that my daughter was learning to talk to people so easily at such a young age. In fact, I noticed my daughter articulating herself more easily with each person or group we approached. In one weeks time we've met hundreds of men, women and children in our community including nurses, business men and women having meetings, stay at home moms, families enjoying time together, couples hanging out and groups of friends meeting up. Today we met Larry, a musician/actor who gave my six year old son a guitar pick after he pushed several dollar bills into the donation box. My son came home and was inspired to pull out his guitar (which had been neglected lately) and he started to strum. One young woman told us of having been a Girl Scout until she graduated High School and she urged my daughter to stay in Girl Scouts as long as she did. My daughter agreed. Another woman overheard us talking with someone else and had money out, waving to us to come on over once we were finished with the people we were talking to. She was with her twenty something daughter and she said that she had been a Girl Scout leader for 8 years. She loved what were doing and she pushed a ten dollar bill into the Thin Mint box. While going door to door, a woman answered the door and said "only one dollar?" She went to grab her wallet and she looked at my daughter with a smile and pushed a twenty dollar bill into the box. Turns out that she was in charge of cookie sales for her daughters troop several years ago. She was happy to contribute to the cause and loved the idea of the troops having the cookies instead of her hips. One man at Starbucks told us that he had been in the military and that a clean tooth brush was heaven sent sometimes and that cookies would be a blessing to our service men and women. He and his buddy each happily donated $8 to buy four boxes total. Each day brings us in contact with more people, more dollars and very interesting stories. Even some parents with their own Girl Scouts contributed one dollar and I encouraged them to teach their Girl Scout the same secret of asking for one dollar to send cookies to the troops. Overall, there have been very few No's....mostly from people without cash on them and from a couple from Brazil who didn't speak English. The only thing I understood was "Brazil." The yeses have added up and my daughter reached her goal yesterday after a neighbor pulled out her checkbook, writing a $44 check to donate cookies. My daughter dumped the days donations into the Ziploc bag full of cash from the past 7 days of donations and she screamed out "I did it!" She confirmed that she had $400 in donations, which equals 100 boxes of donated cookies! Today we started on her goal of getting another 100 boxes donated. She has gotten so good at her approach that we are collecting money even faster and getting bigger donations. Today she collected $100! Maybe she'll go into fundraising one day, either that or sales. Whatever she decides as a career, she'll carry with her the skills and lessons she is learning from this experience of setting goals, the value of helping others and working hard for what you believe in. Girl Scouts indeed helps our girls grow in courage, confidence and leadership. We have also both been so inspired from the positive responses we have received from strangers. Even teenagers are handing over all of their spare change to help out. In a day and age when some might be cynical, skeptical or divided politically...most everyone we have come in contact with have been positive, giving and more than happy to help the troops and to help a Girl Scout. My daughter and I have truly discovered that every dollar counts. I have observed that no act of kindness is too small and that people will gladly help if they are inspired to do so. Even a smile from some of these strangers was much appreciated. Some even yelled out, "Keep up the good work." Many more even thanked us. We thanked them and they thanked us. Amazing! Each bill in the Ziploc unites every person that wanted to help, so before we deposit the money to purchase the cookies, I want to take a picture of my daughter with the mound of cash, to remind her of the many hundreds of generous people whom we have crossed paths with on our mission. "The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth"...(Albert Einstein).