ODESSA, Texas —
Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest – Southern New Mexico & West Texas teamed up with the West Texas Food Bank to hold their first annual "Stuff the Truck" event today at their office in Odessa.
The event invites community members to contribute monetary donations towards the purchase of girl scout cookies. These donations will then directly support the Girl Scouts' efforts to fill a truck with boxes of cookies, ready to be distributed to families in need through the West Texas Food Bank.
"This idea has stemmed from us realizing that not every family has the ability to have girl scout cookies. Most of us look at it and say $6 is not very much for a package of cookies, but in some people's lives, that is a week's worth of groceries potentially, or 2 gallons of gas to get them around," said Patty Craven, CEO of Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest – Southern New Mexico & West Texas. "And so, we wanted our girls and our staff to come together and said, you know what, we want to get this out to people who could really use it. And so, this is one way that we're helping the community."
Craven also says that the program aims to also teach girl scouts the importance of giving back to their community.
“So, the cookie program itself is a business model, which is amazing. They learn about all kinds of great things. But today what we want to teach them is giving back to your community is really important. You want to help those in need. And this is one way that they can see us doing it,” Craven continued.
It’s something she feels will resonate with them better if they actually help with it.
“It's easier to understand a new concept for people if they can see it and help with it... We're making sure that they can see that as we help another group, other people benefit,” Craven added.