ARLINGTON, Texas — Savannah Haynes, 13, doesn’t just sell Girl Scout cookies anymore.
For the third year in a row, the Arlington teenager also collects them and asks customers to donate boxes for nurses and doctors at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth.
"There were 30 [boxes] the first year when I was doing it by myself,” Savannah said. "There were 800 last year and then the total amount for all my boxes are 1,400."
Anxiety and tension fill many hospitals right now as worries over contracting COVID-19 grow in Texas.
Despite the pandemic, Savannah said she thinks a simple box of cookies can make a difference.
“I think it just brightens their day from all the stress – from where it is life or death there – it just kind of makes them feel happier,” she explained.
At age 13, Savannah has seen what nurses and doctors can do.
Her little brother spent time in the ICU there a few years back after his severe asthma turned into pneumonia.
“Three years ago, he ended up in the ICU and it was during cookie time, and my daughter wanted to give some cookies to the nurses who took care of him for the two weeks we were there, and they were so appreciative and told her they rarely get gifts themselves,” said Savannah's mother Leanne Haynes.
This year, Savannah got 35 other Girl Scouts to help collect all the cookies. They also sent 400 notes of encouragement for hospital workers.
“There were so many boxes today, it filled my vehicle. And that was only about 50% of the boxes. I have to go back and get some more,” Megan Hodges Cook of Cook Children’s Hospital said.
Savannah calls her project "Cookies for Cook’s."
She’s trying to make it sustainable for long after she ages out of Girl Scouts.
“I just so appreciate Savannah and all of her hard work,” Hodges Cook added. “It’s remarkable, and she grows that donation every single year.”
Savannah is a 13-year-old with an idea and follow-through who hopes nurses and doctors will welcome a box of cookies as a sense of normalcy in the world of stress they face right now.
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