Girl Scout Cookie Drive
Girl Scouts partner with HUGS at Fort Campbell
Susan Espiritu July 26, 2023
© Knox TN Today
The Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians recently supported our military, partnering with Hugs for our Soldiers (HUGS) by sending our troops packages filled with countless cases of Girl Scout Cookies donated to the HUGS program. HUGS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support our troops serving overseas, by sending packages, letters and cards to a deployed soldier, marine, sailor or airman.
Lynne Fugate, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Southern Appalachians, has a special affinity for the military as her husband is a retired Navy captain and son Patrick is currently an army captain. She also has a special connection to Fort Campbell where the cookies were delivered, since Patrick’s first duty station as a brand-new second lieutenant was Ft. Campbell, so she has spent time there as well.
Fugate says, “I know that not every soldier gets packages from home and some don’t even have family, so a box of cookies is a way to show them that they are appreciated and thought about by Girl Scouts. We appreciate all those members of our community that buy cookies for donation. You help make someone’s day!”
Tammy Gredig, director of product programs for Girl Scouts, said, “It was an honor providing Girl Scout cookie donations to Hugs for Our Soldiers to include in the packages. I look forward to working with them in the future. Kathy and Jim Orcutt are very passionate about the work they do and it shows!”
Kathy Orcutt, founder of Hugs for Our Soldiers, said, “It was remarkable as to how many boxes of cookies the Girl Scouts of Southern Appalachians donated to Hugs for Our Soldiers.”
Orcutt said that HUGS immediately touched base with the 134th Air Refueling Wing at McGhee-Tyson who not only picked up the cookies but also helped to distribute them among the Airmen and Army Guards at the base.
The remainder of the cookies were driven by HUGS volunteers to Fort Campbell and distributed to Soldiers of the 101st Airborne and the Special Ops units based there. Orcutt said “Everyone walked away with a huge smile on their face realizing how much Tennesseans care about our military men and women.”
Amid the Pandemic Over 70,000 Boxes of Girl Scout Cookies Were Received by Soldiers
June 21, 2020
VONORE, TENN - It took a lot of teamwork this year to get the cookies into the hands of the Soldiers with the COVID-19 restrictions, but it finally got done.
Hugs for Our Soldiers’ 17th Annual Girl Scout Cookie drive generated over 70,000 boxes of these once-a-year treats for Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they weren’t the only ones to receive cookies. Every Soldier at Fort Campbell got a box, as well as the Airmen of the 134th Refueling Wing stationed at McGhee-Tyson Airport in Knoxville who have been on continuous rotations in Afghanistan and other countries for several years. Cookies were also placed in Welcome Home packages for the 531st Hospital unit returning home from New York City where they were supporting the Javits Center field hospital during the pandemic.
This was all made possible through the partnership of Hugs for Our Soldiers with the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee’s Little River Service Unit in Blount County. For the 10th year, the Girl Scouts adopted Hugs for Our Soldiers as their gift of caring organization. During both their presales and booth sales, the girls would promote “buy an extra box of cookies for a Soldier”. All 70,000+ boxes were then donated to HUGS who, in turn, made sure each and every box of cookies got into the hands of Soldiers.
The cookie drives in Middle Tennessee barely finished before COVID-19 restrictions went into effect. Armstrong Warehousing, just outside of Nashville, held the cookies in their warehouse for almost two months until restrictions were amended to group gatherings of no more than 10.
Teamwork continued from there. Kathy Orcutt of Hugs for Our Soldiers worked with Fort Campbell to create a distribution list for all Soldiers on post. Tracy Tudder of Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee devised a plan to where Armstrong repackaged all of the pallets of cookies to be unit specific so that when they were delivered to Fort Campbell, it only required a couple of Soldiers per unit to pick up. All of this was successfully done to meet the pandemic restrictions of the time.
Pictures have been received from our troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan showing big smiles of appreciation for being remembered from those of us at home.
67,900 boxes of cookies were donated to Hugs for Our Soldiers by Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee and 2100 boxes were donated by the Girl Scouts in Blount County.
Fort Campbell soldiers may find themselves in need of some extra PT to burn off 70,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies delivered to the post last week.
Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee donated the cookies through its Gift of Caring program, in partnership with Hugs for Our Soldiers, a nonprofit that supports troops serving overseas, according to a news release.
The 70,000-box donation is the culmination of a record-breaking cookie season for the Council, which for the first time ever sold more than 2 million boxes of cookies.
“We are so appreciative of our partnership with Girl Scouts and how it has grown over the last 10 years,” Kathy Orcutt, founder of Hugs for Our Soldiers, said in the release. “Not only were we able to give every soldier at Fort Campbell a box, this donation allowed us to pass cookies on to USO, reservists, National Guard members, and many will be shipped to our troops overseas.”
Orcutt founded Hugs for Our Soldiers in 2003 while living with her family in Duluth, Georgia at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The all-volunteer organization, now based in East Tennessee, supports all branches of service and has touched the lives of over 350,000 servicemembers through its programs, the release said.
“Our visits to Fort Campbell have become an annual highlight since we began partnering with Hugs for Our Soldiers,” Tracy Tudder, manager of Product Programs for Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, said in the release. “A spirit of service infuses every aspect of Girl Scouting, and we are honored to be able to support our men and women in uniform through the cookie program.”
Girl Scouts worked alongside several Fort Campbell brigades on April 12 to unload and sort the cookies.
41,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies donated to Fort Campbell soldiers
Girl Scouts in the Fort Campbell area had their soldiers' backs this cookie season, helping to get them 41,000 boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and Do-Si-Dos.
“I don’t know who put my name in or how this happened, but Hugs for Our Soldiers donated 60 pounds of Girl Scout cookies to the soldiers here in Afghanistan," said Spc. Ryan Tissue of the 1-14 Field Artillery in a Hugs news release. "I cannot believe this happened! You definitely brought plenty of smiles and laughter to this platoon.”
For the eighth year, the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee adopted Hugs for Our Soldiers, a nonprofit organization based in Vonore, Tennessee, as their Gift of Caring recipient, the release said. During booth sales, the Girl Scouts gave customers the opportunity to buy a box of cookies for a soldier. When the sale was complete, over 41,000 boxes were donated to Hugs.
“I was blown away by this donation,” said Kathy Orcutt, Founder of Hugs for Our Soldiers, in the release. “It is remarkable how the general public came together to show their support of our troops.”
Many of the cookies were distributed throughout Fort Campbell, but one of its units, the 2-44 Air Defense Artillery is currently serving in Afghanistan. When Orcutt reached out to this unit to say that Girl Scout cookies were being shipped to them, 1st Lt. Dawn Moffett responded, “You guys are our heroes!”
Hugs for Our Soldiers has been supporting our troops since 2003. To learn how you can help, please visit www.hugsforoursoldiers.org. To learn how you can donate cookies next year, contact productprograms@gsmidtn.org.