If you were wondering why these Girl Scouts have such delighted looks on their faces, it may be because they just set up four new  tents  in Robert Burns Park in preparation for future scout camping trips. The tents were purchased with funds they earned themselves.
Or it could be they are remembering their time together helping out at Alexandria House, an assisted living facility in the neighborhood that helps homeless families get back on their feet. The scouts wrote and illustrated cookbooks for Alexandria House residents who are required to cook meals for their fellow 40 residents on a regular basis, then went and helped cook with the residents at the facility.
Or it could be they’re thinking of the cute little dogs and cats they helped save with their donation to a no-kill animal shelter, using part of their sales profits from selling Girl Scout Cookies this year.
Or it could be they are just remembering the camping trips they took to Big Bear, Malibu Creek and Long Beach, and how the meld of 16 girls from seven schools in the area makes up this single tight-knit band of girls: the Larchmont Village Girl Scout Troop.
Regardless, the troop and their Scout Co-Leaders, Amy Elvis Kiehl Miller and Alysoun Higgins, wanted to thank the Larchmont area community for purchasing so many Girl Scout Cookies last month, allowing the girls to work for their core goals of “community activism and adventure.” The troop began as Brownies from Third Street and Larchmont Charter schools, and now comprises girls from Larchmont Charter, Third Street, Mid City’s Prescott School of Enriched Sciences Magnet, Thomas Starr King Magnet, Temple Israel, Wildwood and the New Horizon School.
“Alysoun and I feel really strongly that the girls make all the money for any trips or community service activities themselves, and not ask their families to contribute,” Amy Miller told the Larchmont Buzz.  “We also guide the girls into running the meetings, picking their own journeys and activities, and planning out their yearly calendar. Because of Girl Scout of Greater LA rules, we can only have 16 girls at a time in the troop, so right now there are no openings.”
It does make one feel better about all those Thin Mints and Samoas we ordered, and consumed, from one or another of the local Girl Scout troops. You might just say it’s cookies for community.
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