Nearly $900 in Girl Scout cookies will go a long way – in this case, all the way to Iraq.

Members of Troop 809 agree it’s important to give to others, said troop leader Kristi Green. So, with the help of an anonymous donor, the troop is sending 288 boxes of cookies overseas to local members of the U.S. Army Reserve stationed in Iraq and surrounding areas.

&#8220I got a phone call on Wednesday from someone who said they wanted to donate some cookies,” Green said. &#8220They wanted to donate back to the Girl Scouts and told us to choose where the cookies went.”

The donation of that many cookies at $3 a box totals $864.

&#8220The girls and I have often talked about not taking our soldiers for granted and all that they do for us, so we decided that would be a good way to donate the cookies,” she said.

The three-member troop often goes beyond the call of duty for their size, said Green, who has been the leader of the troop for five years.

&#8220They’ve participated in Toys for Tots to benefit Haven House, and they’ve provided two Thanksgiving dinners for men at the River City Rescue Mission,” she said.

Green said the troop – Christine Brown, 11, Kayla Green, 10, and Allyson Green, 9 – also made personalized cards for the soldiers.

&#8220Some of them probably don’t have much family contact, so at least this will give them something,” she said.

Donations are being accepted to pay for the $300 shipping cost of the 24 cases of cookies, said Cindy Sykes, family program coordinator at the Army Reserve Center.

Green dropped the cookies off at the George A. Morris Army Reserve Center on Porters Chapel Road Friday afternoon. From there, the cookies will be shipped within the next week, Sykes said.

IF YOU GO

Girl Scout Troop 809 will sell cookies at Kroger from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday. The purchases will be sent to soldiers in Iraq.