When Girl Scout Troop 34 in Orangeburg realized it had money left over from cookie sales, its members wanted to donate the funds to a good cause. So the teens decided, as a group, to give it to the Orangeburg County Library.

"All of us in the whole community use the library," said troop leader Jean Hawks. "It's not just going to benefit one group of people."

The one condition of the donation was the library had to use the money to purchase books, but not just any kind of books. The teens specifically wanted OCL to use a portion of the donation for college prep books.

"We believe that our library needed more books to get students ready for college," said Katie McCann, a member of the troop. "They weren't up-to-date, and they didn't have that many."

The troop of 10th, 11th and 12th-graders saw four of its members leave for college in August.

"I knew that some of the girls were going off to college, and I just felt that they wanted to help people get into college," said extension librarian Margaret Thomas.

With the $150 donation, the library purchased "What Colleges Don't Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You to Know): 272 Secrets for Getting Your Kid into the Top Schools," "How to Say it to Get Into the College of Your Choice: Application, Essay, and Interview Strategies to Get You the Big Envelope" and "The New Rules of College."

The library also purchased a complete set of "Harry Potter" books and eight books written by popular young adult author Lois Duncan.

Hawks said the teens donation was a selfless act that will benefit them in the future.

"It was commendable that the girls chose college prep books," she said. "The values that we've taught have really shown through."

Past charity work performed by the troop includes nursing home visits, organizing a Halloween carnival, planting flowers for a playground, sponsoring a day camp for young girls and providing lunch for Habitat for Humanity volunteers.

T&D Features Writer Candace Newson can be reached by e-mail at cnewson@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

You must be logged in to comment.