Girl Scouts to send soldiers boxes of cookies.
By: Leon Tovey
MONROE Thanks to the generosity of a group of New Jersey businessmen, members of Girl Scout Troop 1640 were able to buy more than 370 boxes of cookies that they hope to mail to local soldiers in Iraq now all they need are the names and addresses of the soldiers themselves.
Alaine Nesti, leader of Troop 1640 and mother of one of the Scouts, is asking for relatives of local soldiers currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan to contact her with the names and addresses of soldiers so she can send them cookies.
"We wanted to send (the cookies) to the troops directly, rather than going through official channels," Ms. Nesti said. "We want to make sure they get to local troops, send them a special treat from their hometown."
Ms. Nesti said the idea of sending cookies to U.S. troops came to her after a family friend told her there was a black market for snack food in Iraq and that soldiers were paying up to $50 for a package of Oreo cookies. Whether or not that’s true, Ms. Nesti said she thought the Girl Scout cookies would find a welcome home among the troops.
"They’ll probably make whatever soldier gets them a favorite in their platoon," she said.
The cookies were purchased with $1,300 in donations from business associates of Ms. Nesti and her husband, Carmine. The Nestis run CJ Nesti Material a materials broker company that Ms. Nesti calls "literally, a mom and pop operation" and they received $100 donations from business associates at businesses ranging from Feist Engineering in Monroe to Toscana Cheese Company of Moonachie and J & D Trucking of Vineland.
Ms. Nesti called it a win-win situation for the businessmen, who can write off the donation to a nonprofit organization, and for the Scout troop, which gets to keep 50 cents for each box of cookies that it sells.
Ms. Nesti said the troop had decided to use the money it raises from this year’s cookie sales to cover the cost of an overnight trip to the Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo’s Night Flight program costs $40 per person and gives children age 6 to 12 an opportunity to see zoo animals in their "night mode."
The girls in the troop, all second-graders at Barclay Brook School, said they were glad to be doing something for the troops, but most were more excited about the trip to the zoo.
"I can’t wait," Cori Haider said Tuesday. "Because I don’t get to sleep over a lot. And we get to spend the night in the tree house."
"My dad’s going to build (a tree house) this weekend," Justine Nesti assured her friend. "We can sleepover in that."
Justine said she likes eating Girl Scout cookies as much as selling them her mother usually ends up buying two to three boxes for her and that she thought U.S. soldiers would like them as well.
Ms. Nesti is asking that relatives of troops serving in Iraq or Afghanistan contact her at (732) 446-1952. She also said she would appreciate donations to help cover the shipping and handling costs of shipping the cookies.