Local Girl Scout Donates Cookies, Gets American Flag

Like every other Girl Scout in America, Ava Tiscornia, 8, of Chatham Township spent the spring selling as many boxes of cookies as she could.

Unlike every other Girl Scout, Ava, a second-grade student at Southern Boulevard School, found a way to get people to buy cookies for more than just themselves. Using a connection through a colleague of her mother's, Ava was able to offer people the chance to buy cookies to send to a member of the U.S. Air Force serving in Afghanistan.

"I wanted to help the troops because they fight for our freedom," Ava said. "I love cookies, and I wanted to share it with the world."

Ava sold cookies at her mother Rita Coviello's office at Wyndham Exchange & Rentals. One of Rita's co-workers, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force reserves, made the connection to the airman in Afghanistan, who is stationed on his own and is not part of a larger unit at the base.

"We told people if they bought a box, she would match it to send," Rita said. "In total, Ava sent him 79 boxes of cookies," nearly half of the 180 boxes Ava sold in all this year. "He [and] the others on the base got a big treat when the two big boxes arrived."

To show his gratitude, the airman, whose name was not released, sent Ava an American flag which flew on an Air Force aircraft during a missions in Afghanistan.

"She did a really cool thing, as did the airman," Coviello said. "He had to find another unit to fly the flag for him because he really wanted to get this flag out for Ava."

Ava's troop, Troop  No. 4963, now plans to donate all their unsold cookies to the same Air Force base.

When she received the flag, Ava brought it the her Girl Scout camp where it was raised to fly on their flagpole. The picture above and to the right shows the girls of Troop No. 4963 holding the flag.

Coviello said she plans to have the flag properly folded and put into a display case for Ava to keep. "She can hang it in her office someday," she said.

The biggest lesson for Ava, though, was learning how much soldiers abroad appreciate a taste of home.

"We can go to the cabinet and get a box of Trefoils [Ava's favorite Girl Scout cookie] anytime," Coviello said. "But to send these cookies so far away made such an impact."