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Girl Scouts Treat Hospice House To 70 Boxes Of Cookies

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By MEGAN HUSSEY

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 11, 2008

DADE CITY - Last year, 10-year-old Alexandra Harwell visited her grandfather James Bailey at the Hernando-Pasco Hospice House in Dade City.

Bailey lived out his last days at the hospice house, with his family by his side.

"Everyone at hospice was so sweet," said Karen Harwell, James Bailey's daughter and Alexandra's mom. "They provided a place for our family to come and feel comfortable."

Alexandra agrees.

"I watched TV and ate ice cream at the house," she said. "The people at the house were so nice, and I wanted to thank them."

With this in mind, Alexandra - a member of Girl Scout Troop 420 in Zephyrhills - suggested that her troop donate boxes of Girl Scout cookies to Hernando-Pasco Hospice for distribution among residents and residents' families at the hospice house.

When the girls sold their cookies this year, they gave buyers the option of funding cookie box donations to the Hernando-Pasco Hospice and Support the Troops efforts.

May 2, the troop delivered about 70 boxes of cookies to the hospice; that's six cases of goodies that included Do Si Dos, Tagalongs and Thin Mints.

According to Jennifer E. Taylor, gift planner at Hernando-Pasco Hospice, the cookies were an ideal gift.

"At the hospice house, we provide food for the families who visit, so they don't have to find a restaurant, and we love to put out cookies," she told the girls during a tour of the house. "And the patients eat whatever they want. If they want chocolate ice cream three times a day, they get it."

"Cool" and "wow" were the comments made by the nine representatives of the 12-member troop who made the tour when they saw the luxury patient rooms (the Scouts toured an empty room), common areas and kids' room at the house.

Taylor, in turn, was wowed by the donation.

"So much of what hospice does is made possible because of the community," she said. "This is an example of friends and neighbors in the community supporting each other, and it's so encouraging when young people do the giving."

Tricia Smith, who co-leads Troop 420 with Kim McGuire, agreed.

"Each year, the girls decide on two groups to donate cookies to, and this year they donated 100 boxes to the Support the Troops effort and 70 to hospice," Smith said, adding, "I love this effort. It's important that the girls learn to do their part for the community."

Smith and McGuire accompanied the girls on their hospice house tour, as did parent volunteers Harwell and Tammy Mesiemore, whose 10-year-old daughter Stephanie is a troop member and a good friend of Alexandra's.
Hospice staffers Taylor, Peggy Johnson and Jane Freeman were on hand to greet the girls and show them around the hospice house. And as the girls laughed, took pictures and thanked staffers for their hospitality, Harwell looked on with pride at the efforts of her daughter and their friends.

"This is a wonderful facility," she said. "And my daughter and her friends knew it was important to give back."

For information, about Hernando-Pasco Hospice, go to www.hphospice.org or call 1-800-486-8784.

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