Taste of home sweet home - Girl Scout cookies to Iraq
 

Taste of home sweet home - Girl Scout cookies to Iraq
By JANE GARGAS
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic

Saving Private Ryan ? from starvation.

That's what 11 Yakima girls have set out to do.

And they're off to a good start, considering they're mailing 50 boxes of cookies to Pfc. Ryan Hoffert, who's serving with the Army in Iraq.

All members of Brownie Troop 106 in West Valley, the 11 girls finished packing up the last box of Girl Scout cookies earlier this week. The goodies are bound for Fallujah, where the Yakima soldier is stationed.

"We want him to feel closer to home," explained 7-year-old Lindsay Anderson.

The Brownies chose Hoffert for their largesse as a way of thanking him for coming to speak to the troop when he was home on leave in January.

Ordinarily, the girls would have sent Hoffert four or five boxes, said Karen Anderson, troop leader. But then serendipity intervened.

When Karen and daughter Lindsay were selling their Girl Scout cookies outside a West Valley grocery store recently, a man handed them $100. He picked out several boxes, which cost $4 each, but refused to take any change.

Stunned, it took the Andersons just a few moments to decide what to do with the extra money.

When they said they'd use the $100 to send cookies to a soldier in Iraq, the man seemed genuinely touched, Karen Anderson noted.

Nor was he the only one.

When another Brownie told her family about the donation, it rekindled memories from 50 years ago for her grandfather.

And he stepped forward with another $100.

"He had served in World War II, and he said the soldiers would have given anything for packages of cookies from home," explained Tina Warner, the troop's assistant leader.

However, just like the West Valley shopper, the grandfather also wishes to remain anonymous.

So, with two donations totaling $200, the Brownies were able to pack up 50 boxes of cookies for Hoffert.

They chose four kinds ? peanut butter, shortbread, lemon and iced berry ? explained Katie Warner, 7, noting they decided to forgo any with chocolate because the desert heat might melt them.

Anita Oman, 7, guessed, logically, that Hoffert would probably distribute the cookies throughout his platoon.

"He might share, and he might keep a lot," she said.

Other Troop 106 members are Madison Alderman, MacKenzie Coleman, Sierra Lumley, Raelyn Maiers, Elizabeth McIntosh, Karly Smith and Maria Williams.

Their troop leaders estimate the cookies will arrive in Fallujah in about three weeks.

"Oh, my goodness, how sweet," said Hoffert's aunt, Pat Hernandez of Yakima, when told the Brownies were sending cookies to her nephew.

"He'll be so pleased, and so am I," she said.

Ryan Hoffert's father, William Hoffert, lives in Yakima; his mother, Mariann, resides in Olympia.

The 19-year-old is a member of the Army's 594th Transportation Company, based in Alabama.

"He told us it can be scary in Iraq," said Ashley Hillier, 7.

Hoffert volunteered Iraq duty, according to Dave Anderson, Karen's husband. "Since he was single, he said he wanted to go so someone with children wouldn't have to," said Dave Anderson.

Hoffert won't be the only recipient of Girl Scout sweets from home. Several other troops in the Valley have been asking people if they want to make separate donations to send cookies to military members overseas; most of those boxes will be mailed to groups of soldiers through the Girl Scout's Mid-Columbia Council in the Tri-Cities.

Hoffert has been in Iraq since April of last year and is scheduled to return home in July.

That should give him enough time to finish up the 2,000 or so cookies.

Brownies Anita Oman, left, Ashley Hillier and Katie Warner packed Girl Scout cookies Monday for shipment to Ryan Hoffert, a soldier serving in Iraq. The Brownies, members of Troop 106, are shipping a total of 50 boxes of cookies to Hoffert. The cookies were purchased with a donation to the troop.