Girl Scouts of Central Illinois kicked off Operation Cookie Share in 2010. Since that time over 190,000 boxes – worth more than $825,000 – of delectable Girl Scout cookies have been shipped to our service women and men at home and abroad. In fact, our Girl Scouts were so successful that this achievement is entered in the Illinois Congressional Records.

Operation Cookie Share is a program that allows customers to let military troops know that we appreciate their service by purchasing cookies for them. Operation Cookie Share is simple and fun, and is a great way for communities to show support for military troops through the purchase of Girl Scout cookies.

How Operation Cookie Share Works

Even though we are using a modified direct sale format this year, girls should still take along their order cards. On each girl’s order card there is a column listing each variety of cookie plus one additional column labeled “Cookie Share.” When the girls go out with cookies in hand (And during cookie booths!) please encourage them to not only ask the customer to purchase Girl Scout cookies for themselves, but to also ask the customers to purchase cookies for our military troops. Girls will enter the number of boxes each customer donates on the Cookie Share column. Customers do not have a choice of the variety of cookies to be sent to troops. Operation Cookie Share cookies are held in a “virtual warehouse” so troops do not take possession of the Operation Cookie Share cookies. At the end of the cookie program, all Operation Cookie Share orders are accounted for and then shipped to our military soldiers at home and abroad.

How Cookies Are Delivered to Military Troops

A special thanks to our good neighbor, State Farm! State Farm will deliver many of the Cookie Share cookies through their Adopt-a-Soldier program. GSCI will deliver Cookie Share cookies to the State Farm corporate office in Bloomington, and State Farm will distribute Cookie Share cookies at home and abroad. Operation Cookie Share has reached military troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Haiti.