By Vickey England
Troop Leader, Girl Scout Troop 1311

Members of Girl Scout Troop 1311 of San Gorgonio Council hosted their annual Veterans Day dinner on Saturday Nov. 9. The girls in the troop planned and cooked a spaghetti dinner for veterans across the mountain.
During the dinner the girls read poems of thanks and sat down and talked with the veterans and their families. The girls also set up a fallen soldier table to honor those soldiers no longer with us.

The troop used funds from cookie sales to provide the dinner to the community, along with a sponsorship from Thrivent Financial. The girls also purchased food supplies to donate to the Donation Room at the Loma Linda Veterans Village. 

“I genuinely love helping with this dinner,” said Senior Girl Scout Molly England. “My dad is a veteran and it makes my day watching him and his fellow vets feel appreciated. They have done so much for this country and I just want them to know that we care.”

Fellow Senior Girl Scout Kaitlyn Koelliker added, “I felt happy after we did the dinner because all the veterans deserved to be treated well, they served our country and they deserve the dinner.

“’You served our country, now we’re serving you’ is something I said a couple of times,” Kaitlyn said with a smile.

“Definitely giving back to all the people that served our country felt great,” added Cadette Girl Scout Cassandra Simo, “because one little thing can change anything about how we live our life and how the world works. It is definitely life-changing to do something so generous because it feels like finally someone’s being more appreciative and it’s just showing our respect and our thank yous.

“My favorite part of the dinner was getting to know everyone’s stories, what branch they served in and what they did in the military.”

Troop Leader Tiffany Koelliker agreed with the Scouts: “Dinner is the least we can do; they sacrificed so much for us.” 

The highlight of the night for the girls and their leaders was talking with a World War II vet and a Korean War vet and hearing their stories.