Cambria Girl Scouts send cookies and thanks to North Coast troops

Girl Scout cookies seem to be everywhere these days, and soon, they’ll be heading overseas, courtesy of Troop 40651.

About a dozen girls joined a handful of adults in Room 13 behind the Old Cambria Grammar School on Monday, Feb. 29, assembling care packages to be sent to four service members overseas.

It’s part of the TS2 program sponsored by Cambria’s American Legion Post 432, which provides support to service members from the Cambria-San Simeon area, some of whom are stationed overseas.

“It’s a group within the group that sends packages to guys who are in the service,” said John Angel, who serves as chaplain for the Legion post and showed up Monday to help the girls pack their boxes. “We started it five years ago, I guess. It’s just a nice thing to do for the guys overseas.”

(A list of local service members the program supports can be seen on a sign in the parking lot outside the Veterans Memorial Building.)

Four service members from the area will receive boxes from the Girl Scouts: Morgan Rose Matteson, Air Force; James McGhie, Army; Johnny Galvan, Navy; and Jake Torrell, Air Force.

McGhie’s mother, Tandra McGhie, and Matteson’s mother, Susan Padgette, both spoke to the Scouts after they assembled their packages, telling them a little bit about their children and their careers in the military. Matteson is assigned to an ordinance unit in Afghanistan, and McGhie is on his second tour in Afghanistan.

They’ll be getting packages containing Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Caramel deLite Girl Scout cookies, along with candies purchased at a discount from the Cookie Crock Market and thank you cards. The Legion post purchased 125 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for the effort, said Jenifer Ehlers, who helped coordinate the effort for the local troop.

She and Robin Cloward were on hand Monday to help the Scouts assemble the boxes and at the Old Cambria Grammar School and enjoy pizza and soda afterward.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 11:01 AM with the headline "Cambria Girl Scouts send cookies and thanks to North Coast troops."