A suspected teenager in Carlisle, Iowa allegedly swiped a donation box containing $200 from three Girl Scouts as they were selling cookies outside of a supermarket over the weekend, WGN-TV/Nexstar Media Wire reports.
Marah Pearce, Madison Williams, and Abby Hugen from the Girl Scouts Troop 709 were accompanied by two parents and troop leader Peggy Hugen, who also happens to be Abby’s mom, when they set up a booth in front of Hy-Vee supermarket Saturday. “This guy came up and acted like he was going to buy cookies,” Williams said. “Then he just stole the donation box and ran off.”
“We were helping another customer and then he was there. And when the other customer left, he just snatched and ran,” Pearce added. Surveillance footage captured the thief fleeing behind a nearby Target before heading towards apartments in the area.
Abby said she was “disappointed” by the situation and left wondering why someone would do it in the first place. The troop intended on giving the money to “people who have to go in and out from cars to do COVID tests.” Hy-Vee has since given them a $200 donation to make up for their stolen money. “His bad action was turned into a positive light,” Hugen said.
The Girl Scouts organization told TheNew York Times last June that they were left with 15 million boxes of cookies because of a sharp decline in sales due to the pandemic. Troops heavily rely upon in-person sales, but social distancing restrictions forced them to rely on online orders. Even after altering their sales approach last year, there were still 12 million boxes just sitting in their warehouses in Kentucky and Indiana.
According to NYT, Girl Scouts sell about 200 million boxes every year, and any leftover boxes are typically donated to the military or emergency medical workers.
