Forklift Operator Helps Lift Girl Scout Cookies to Success

On a bone-chilling Saturday morning in Denton, Maryland, earlier this month, Greg Eigenbrode sat shivering behind the wheel of his forklift waiting for a very special delivery to arrive at the Denton Volunteer Fire Department’s headquarters.

The truck carried several pallets of Girl Scout cookies that were to be distributed by members of the local troop. Every year for the past decade, when the cookie truck arrived, Eigenbrode has been waiting for it at the fire house with his forklift.

“More than 10 years ago, they approached me to see if I could help unload the crates with my forklift,” Eigenbrode told the local news website, My Eastern Shore MD. “I did it that first year and each I wanted to come back and help the next. The Girl Scouts do so much for the community, from service to learning skills. And I want to be there to support their efforts.”

Girl Scout’s Guardian Angel

Melissa Allaband, the Girl Scouts’ cookie manager for Caroline County, Maryland, said that every year Eigenbrode shows up with his forklift, ready to unload pallet after pallet of cookies and he’s never asked for anything in return.

“Greg graciously volunteers his time for us,” Allaband said. “We are thankful that he has been doing it for over 10 years.”

Eigenbrode said he doesn’t mind the work. In fact, it’s something he looks forward to “Cookie Day” every year.

“It is just a little something I can do to help out the community,” he said. “I enjoy working on the forklift. When we see Girl Scout cookies around the county, we joke and say, ‘I did my Girl Scout duty.’ But it is great seeing so many people come out for the kids today and help organize the boxes. It is what it is all about. There are so many other volunteers that do great things for the community.”

While Eigenbrode may not want the spotlight on him, without him the task of unloading and organizing the thousands of boxes of cookies to be distributed throughout the county would be next to impossible, according to Allaband.

“Greg is the oil that runs the operation because without him we wouldn’t be able to do it at all,” she said. “Without him and his forklift getting those cookies off, we’d be here a lot longer than we would, and we’d have to find some other way to get them off the truck.”

Girl Scout cookies have been sold by local troop members throughout the US for nearly 100 years. Beginning in 1917, the first cookies were actually baked at home by the scouts themselves and sold throughout their communities to raise funds for troop activities.

The Original Recipe

In 1922, Florence E. Neil, director of the Chicago chapter of the Girl Scouts, provided a standard recipe for the official Girl Scout Cookie:

1 cup Butter

1 cup Sugar (with additional sugar for topping)

2 Eggs

2 TBS Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 cups Flour

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Baking Powder

Cream butter and 1 cup of sugar together, then add well-beaten eggs, milk, vanilla, flour, salt and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least one hour then roll out the dough and cut into trefoil shapes, sprinkling the extra sugar on top.

Bake in a 375F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six to seven dozen cookies.