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Mostly Cloudy Selling cookies for a cause
Franklin Square Girl Scouts sell 227 boxes of cookies for ‘Adopt the Pike’ program
Girl scouts troop 1257 held a fundraiser on Sunday at the Stop and Shop in West Hempstead to raise money for the “Adopt the Pike” program that the troop as been involved with. The program’s goal is to revitalize Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square and promote local shopping. The sidewalks along the turnpike have deteriorated in recent years due to neglect from shops owners, littering from pedestrians, and overall lack of money for décor. Troop leader Christy McKenna hopes to plant flowers along the sidewalk and decorate the lampposts to signal whichever season it is. The girls sold 227 boxes in total on Sunday, with 43 being donated to the military.
On Nov. 21 McKenna organized a clean up effort with her troop along the turnpike. An initiative such as that is something that McKenna hopes to do more of in the future. The fundraiser on Sunday, in which scouts sold boxes of Girl Scout cookies, is the first step in achieving the troops goals. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from the fundraiser are going to the “Adopt the Pike” project; the remainder of the money will go towards expenses that the troop incurs.
At the last girl scouts meeting the girls made fliers with the “Adopt the Pike” information and passed those out during the cookie sale.
“It’s important to let everybody know what we’re trying to do,” said McKenna. “To have some pride back into the community and it’s coming from them and what better way to share what we’re doing with the community than actually talking with the people who live here.”
The efforts that the girls have been involved in have not gone unnoticed by local residents. Many people in the community have come up to McKenna and the girls and thanked them for their contributions to the area.
“People have come up to them when we were taking down the bows after Christmas, a nice lady stopped at the red light and said ‘thank you so much for doing that,’ they have been really appreciative of what we’ve done so far even though we haven’t got fully started yet so spring is going to be the big push for what we want to see with the changes.”
McKenna is especially grateful to Stop and Shop who let them use the store to sell their cookies. Many stores have declined McKenna’s request due to various permits and laws the prohibit solicitation on sites, McKenna said. “We appreciate businesses like Stop and Shop,” said McKenna.
The troop plans on hosting other cookie booths in the coming weeks, McKenna said.
