Girl Scouts Surprise Jurors with Free Cookies

Cookie fans were probably never happier to get a jury duty summons Thursday morning, as members of the passed out upwards of 350 boxes of Trefoils, Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Samoas and Lemon Chalets.

“I want you to know... that your role is very, very important, even though sitting here today it doesn’t seem that way,” Justice Denise Sher told the few hundred in the main jury pool room of the Supreme Court House.

The girl scouts decided to pass out the multicolored boxes as part of the organization’s mission about community service and the giveaway was the girls’ way of thanking jurors for theirs.

“I’ve always believed in giving back,” Sher  said, who along with her two daughters, are former scouts. One of Sher’s daughters has gone on to become a doctor while the other is a business executive in New York City.

By last estimate, there are approximately 22,000 girls involved in scouting in some form in Nassau, and together have performed over half a million hours of volunteer service to their communities.

Along with the annual cookie sale, Girl Scout Executive Director Donna Ceravolo mentioned “Operation: Cookie,” where boxes of the treats are sent to service men and women through a partnership with DHL Courier service.

Ceravolo also told the crowd a story about a young former soldier who donated $20 at a cookie booth, telling the scouts how much it meant to him to get a “taste of home.” Last year an estimated 55,000 boxes of cookies were sent to soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and military hospitals.

“A lot of people know us for our cookies, not because they’re tasty but because they are a major financial learning tool for girls,” Ceravolo said. “Girl scouting is all about serving God and our country and making the world a better place. One of the skills you need to be a leader in anything is financial literacy.”

As the girls moved down the two aisles in the jury pool room, the mountainous stacks of cookies on two large carts slowly dwindled – the Thin Mints went fast – before a few boxes remained. As the girls packed up the remaining boxes, Judge Sher stopped by to express her appreciation as well as answer a couple questions by the inquesitive scouts, including how to become a judge.

One forthcoming scout asked if a person could be held accountable for a crime if they were under the influence of a drug or other substance imposed by another or if both would be brought up on charges

“That’s a very interesting question,” Sher said, “probably both, but you have to have enough evidence to charge them with a crime. That’s a whole other area of the law; that’s the criminal court which is right across the way.”