Girl Scout Surprises Cancer Patients With Girl Scout Cookies

Nine-year-old Reilly has been selling Girl Scout cookies ever since she was a Daisy, but this year the Junior Girl Scout made a personal pledge to sell enough cookies to gift to cancer patients at Memorial Hermann Cancer Center - Texas Medical Center She topped her goal, selling 72 boxes that customers donated to her cause.

Reilly’s mom, Judith, an oncology pharmacist at the hospital, delivered the cookies to the patients on Valentine’s Day. Each box came with a handwritten note penned by Reilly that read, “I hope you have a great Valentine’s Day.” Reilly said she wanted to make the patients smile on Valentine’s Day. She accomplished her mission.

“It made their day. They were so touched by the gesture,” said her mother, Judith. “Some of them said, ‘Are these for me?’They were surprised and thankful.” Reilly is aware of the patients because she has visited the hospital with her mother who also runs a research lab there. She met one of the patients and they developed a friendship based on their fondness for unicorns. Though she does not know them personally, Reilly often asks her mom how the patients are doing. She said it makes her feel happy that all her hard work getting donations paid off.

Besides asking customers to donate cookies at her cookie booth, Reilly spent the weekend of Feb. 11-12 walking door to door to get her neighbors’support. She even learned that some of them were cancer survivors. Family and friends also pitched in by donating cookies. The motivation behind her good deed? “I wanted to help people feel better and make a difference in their lives by helping them.”

Reilly is a member of Troop 109147 and has been the troop’s cookie CEO every year. Her mom is the co-troop leader. Reilly said she wants to follow her mom’s footsteps in the medical world. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up.