Mahwah Girl Scout Sells 800 Cookie Boxes for Late Uncle's Afghanistan Camp

When a Mahwah Girl Scout decided she wanted to turn selling cookies into a fundraiser in honor of her uncle – a Green Beret who was killed in Afghanistan last year – the community responded.

In January, Lindsay Vanderbeek and her daughter Savanna, a Daisy Scout in first grade, sent out a call letting locals know that they’d be selling cookie boxes as donations to send to soldiers in the camp where their late brother and uncle, Staff Sgt. Timothy McGill, had served.

McGill loved Girl Scout cookies, they said, and when the Vanderbeeks sent him a few boxes last year, all of the soldiers in his camp appreciated the sweet treats. When this year's sale came around, the mom and daughter said they knew exactly how to honor McGill and support the troops serving in his old camp at the same time.

Over the past two months, they were able to sell 800 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

Now, the Vanderbeeks are planning to send the Thin Mints, Samoas, and Do-Si-Dos to ‘Camp McGill,’ which has since been renamed in the soldier’s honor.

“It is so nice to see how many people support our troops,” Lindsay Vanderbeek said of the cookie collection she and her daughter ran.

“My daughter and I are so grateful for everyone’s donations.”

McGill, who was killed in September, was a Ramsey resident and member of the borough’s volunteer fire department. His father is a retired Mahwah police officer.

“Since he passed away, the community has been amazing to us,” Vanderbeek said.