The Girl Reporter Program is proudly supported by

California Community Colleges
Inland Empire/Desert Region
Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy

By LeeAnn G.
Girl Reporter

I was fortunate enough on March 30, 2016 to witness the first I Care Distribution Mega Drop.  The Girl Scout I Care program supports military service people, local food banks, women’s shelters, Ronald McDonald houses, camps and several other community organizations. During the Girl Scout cookie season, the Council hosts a Mega Drop where lines of vehicles pick up millions of cookies on a single day for Girl Scouts to sell. The I Care Mega Drop served a similar purpose: to distribute a large quantity of cookies on a single day. Only this time, they were donated cookies for charities. A total of 3, 150 cases of Girl Scout cookies were distributed at the Mega Drop.

The following organizations picked up their I Care donations: Operation Safe House, Family Services Association of Redlands, Feeding America, Possabilities, Challengers, District 43, Highland Senior Center, Spirit of Hope, Carols Kitchen, Project Life Impact, City Link, Child Help Banning, Meals on Wheels, Assistant Leagues, Optimist of Redlands, Ronald McDonald Camps, Gap Food Bank Rancho, Path of Life, Mission Commins, Veronica Home Of Mercy and Mary’s Table.

I talked with Pari Blackman, GAP Food Bank, about how receiving the donated Girl Scout cookies made her feel and she told me, “Wonderful, very happy for all the family’s at the food bank.”

I was excited to hear that Girl Scouts are making people happy. I also spoke with Gary Rainsbarger from Riverside Meals On Wheels about what his thoughts were when he found out about the donation. His reply was, “It was wonderful and the people will love them.”

In interviewing Curtis Paul, Volunteer and Facility Coordinator, of Family Service Association of Redlands I found out that they will distribute the cookies at their next big event by giving every person a box.

This year alone, a total of 183, 624 cases of Girl Scout cookies were donated to deserving charities and our military from Inland Empire families. The d0nation breakdown for 2016 looks like this:

• 5,000 cases (aka 60,000 boxes) to USO Palm Springs
• 5,000 cases (aka 60,000 boxes) to Operation Gratitude
• 3,150 cases (aka 37,800 boxes) for the shelters listed above
• 300 cases (aka 3,600 boxes) USO Ontario
• 1,852 cases to assorted local charities

We send a big thanks to Mrs. Tina Schumacher, Girl Scout volunteer and mom, for this wonderful idea. And a big thank you to the citizens of the Inland Empire and San Bernardino who purchased I Care cookies to donate to these shelters, food banks, senior living facilities, foster homes, heroes and so much more!