V.S. Valentine buys out cookies in kind gesture

Valley Stream Girl Scout Troop 2346 had been bundled up and assembled outside the Valley Stream Post Office selling cookies for about four hours on Feb. 14 when a man approached them.

“That day was cold,” said troop leader Maria Guzman. “He said, ‘I’m buying the cookies so the girls can go home and get out of the cold.”

The man walked to an ATM and returned to purchase everything on their table — a little more than $200 worth of cookies, Guzman said. “We didn’t get his name with all the excitement and how shocked we were.”

The purchase relieved the girls from their station, but Guzman and a few parents remained for another hour to sell boxes from a stash under the table to people who were still coming by to place orders.

The girls presented their gracious customer with a thank you card, as is their normal policy. Guzman said the gesture was greatly appreciated. “Just a very big thank you from Troop 2346,” she said.

Guzman said the girls’ take topped $1,000, unusually high for a day’s work.

The group started taking orders in September and began booth sales in February. Those will last through March. All proceeds are collected by the Girl Scouts of Nassau County Council, which determines how much money each troop will get based on its sales. The money funds the girls’ activities.