Sweet Surprises for Troops Overseas

More than 300 soldiers will get a sweet surprise from a second-grader in

Sydney Sincula sold 160 boxes of Do-si-do Girl Scout cookies to be put in care packages going from to the troops in Afghanistan.

The cookies will be unwrapped, and one roll will be placed in each care package the school is sending the troops through Operation Support-a-Hero out of Jasper. 

“I think they’ll be happy to get them,” Sydney said.

She and her mother chose Do-si-dos because the peanut butter will give soldiers energy and the cookies are better suited to travel across long distances. 

Troop leader Shani McPherson described Sydney as shy, quiet and sweet.

“She provides a nice balance for the troop,” McPherson said. “Sydney actively participates in all of our troop activities and is an absolute pleasure to be around. When she started accepting the donations for the military, she stood up in front of our troop to explain to the girls what she was doing. She was very proud of her efforts and what she had accomplished, as were all of us for her. She really is an inspiration for other Girl Scouts. We are all so glad that she is part of our troop.”

Sydney got the idea when friends of her family wanted to buy cookies from her but lived too far away to ship them. The concept went worldwide when the Sinculas got their online dog support group, Corgi Nation, involved in the effort.

The family Corgi, Pippa, has her own Facebook page.

Corgi connections from Hong Kong and Australia even contributed to the cookie drive, mom Laurie Sincula said.

One of the Corgi Nation members’ sons is in Afghanistan and said the support for the troops weakened after the United States pulled out of Iraq, Sincula said.

But exactly how much does a second-grader know about the war in Afghanistan?

Sydney refers to the war as “the big one” and, to some extent, knows that the killing of Osama bin Laden, whom she knows as "a bad guy," was important in bringing soldiers home.

“They’re not with their families,” Laurie Sincula said about the troops overseas. “This teaches them to be giving, caring kids.”

Sydney isn't the only Georgia Girl Scout sending cookies to soldiers. A group out of Duluth, Hugs for Soldiers, has provided cookies for almost a decade through Operation A Taste of Home.

But Sydney was not part of an organized team.

She has been on the school news and will receive several rewards for being a top cookie seller in her Girl Scout troop.

The cookies will go to soldiers in areas without bases, her mom said.

Sydney doesn’t directly know anyone in the military, but philanthropy is on her list of things to do to become a princess—her chosen career.

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