Prank on Girl Scouts Leads to Outpouring of Support from Community

After falling victim to a nasty hoax, two Girl Scout troops will likely be sent to summer camp thanks to generous members of the Portland, Oregon community.

Earlier this month, the two sets of Scouts were told they’d made a large corporate cookie sale, earning enough money to afford both camp for the girls and a donation to a local homeless shelter.

Unfortunately, there was no sale. It was all a cruel prank orchestrated by a troop parent’s colleague, and by the time troop leaders realized the order was fraudulent, it was too late. The Scouts were stuck with the 6,000 unsold boxes, or $24,000 worth of cookies.

Selling the cookies earn Scouts credits towards camp, but it was too late in the season to recoup the losses from the bogus sale.

“It let the girls down tremendously,” said troop parent Jennifer Reed to local news station KATU.

Plus: Easy Fundraising Ideas

Word of the prank spread quickly through the town, as did talk of an emergency sale.  The Scouts set up shop last Saturday morning, and hundreds of community members lined up, purchasing half the inventory in one day, or 3,000 boxes of Samoas, Thin Mints, and Trefoils, reports KATU.

If you’re in the Portland area this weekend, sales of the surplus cookies will continue this Saturday from 10 a.m. and 2 p.m at the Girl Scout service center located at 9620 S.W. Barbur Blvd.

If you’re not local to Oregon and still want to help, you can email cookies@girlscoutsosw.org and pay for a box to be donated to a homeless shelter in the area.