'They belong': Hundreds of homeless girls take part in their first ever cookie sale
This is amazing.
The first ever Girl Scout troop for kids living in homeless shelters was formed in New York in 2016, and is dedicated to serving young girls and teens who live in temporary accommodation.
“A lot of people ask us, what’s the difference between us and traditional troops, and there really isn’t a difference," troop leader Giselle Burgess told Fox 5.
"They’re exactly the same, just that they don’t have a home."
However, when the time came for their first cookie sale, there was a bit of a dilemma: where would the cookies be delivered to and how would the girls store them?
Well, that's where Little Brown Bakers, who bakes all the cookies for the troops, comes in.
A division of Kellogg Company, they set up a booth at Kellogg's NYC Cafe in Union Square so the girls, some who may be affected by domestic violence, can safely raise money.
The girls are hoping to reach their goal of 12,000 cookies by the weekend, and all proceeds from the sale will go back to Troop 6000.
However, it's not all about selling cookies. Being part of a troop means so much to the girls.
“The biggest impact that we see ‒ and when you talk to the girls you’ll hear them say [it] ‒ is that they belong to something, they have a sisterhood within the other Girl Scouts,” Meredith Maskara, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, told ABC News.
“They talk to other girls who may be in their same situation who feel alone, and they feel like they have a stronger sense of community and belonging overall.”