COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa. (KMTV) — The MICAH House is a homeless shelter for women and families in Omaha and Council Bluffs. Their Girl Scout troop shattered their cookie sales last year, selling more than 27,000 boxes to all 50 states.
"In the past, it's been 'okay, let's just sell these cookies, see what we can do.' We know what we can do now, so now how can we make it different?" Child Program Specialist Kayla Terrillion said. "That's where we came up with the buy one, get one. Buy a box of cookies for yourself, buy a box of cookies for someone else."
Terrillion has high hopes for the upcoming season.
"Our goal is to sell 4,000 cookies, yes. Now if we sell more, we sell more, and that would be awesome and we would just continue to up our goal. But right now, at the start of cookie season, we're sticking with 4,000 cookies," Terrillion said.
But these MICAH House leaders are clear: these are more than just boxes of sweets to these girls.
"With that money, the girls have been able to do a lot of fun things, they've been able to go to the zoo and take fun field trips, they also have been able to purchase craft supplies and other needed items that they need to work towards their patches. That's just not an experience many girls in shelters get," Associate Director Ashley Flater said.
"Whether it's trauma, whether it's embarrassment for living in a homeless shelter, to the reality of life hasn't been so great to them, whatever it is, they all are coming to Girl Scouts and working towards a common goal," Terrillion said.
That common goal is showing young women the value of spreading generosity in a world that's not always sweet.
"Taking it to your local shelter and dropping off a box of cookies, whatever that looks like, that's my biggest thing. I hope and want to see we're giving back to the community we live in whether we're here in Iowa or Nebraska or 50 states away," Terrillion said.
To buy some treats of your own, click here.
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