By Jason Klaiber

Staff Writer

Though chestnuts—especially those roasted on an open fire—might be seen as the more traditional festive treat, a local troop in the Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways (GSNYPENN) Council have made a case for honey roasted peanuts this holiday season.

In fact, a total of 227 cases of the peanuts were donated to Food Bank of Central New York, the council’s 2019 Sweet Support partner.

That amount works out to 2,724 single cans.

The donation will be shared with Food Bank of the Southern Tier as well as a network of 282 emergency program partners, including food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters.

The cans of peanuts will then be distributed to individuals struggling with hunger in Food Bank of Central New York’s 11-county coverage area.

As part of the Treats, Reads & More fall product program, Girl Scout Troop 60500 from the Jamesville-DeWitt district donated 50 cans of peanuts, the top figure across 24 counties in New York and two in Pennsylvania.

Members of the multi-level troop, made up of Daisies, Brownies and Juniors, visited the food bank at 7066 Interstate Island Road in Syracuse on Nov. 25 and presented the gift in the site’s warehouse.

“The fact that they thought of a community-based organization like the food bank and allowed us to be the recipient is really cool and awesome,” Kathleen Stress, the executive director of Food Bank of Central New York, said.

According to Stress, Ashton Farms supplied the “high-protein” and “nutritious” nuts.

GSNYPENN CEO Julie Dale said seeing the Girl Scouts’ examples of civic engagement is the “best part of the job.”

“It’s great to see they’re learning new things, learning about what’s going on in their community and most importantly taking action to do something to make it a better place,” Dale said. “That’s what we’re all about.”

Sweet Support is a biannual council service project during both the fall product and cookie programs. For various reasons, some customers do not wish to purchase items for themselves. Through Sweet Support, they purchase as a donation—giving back to others while supporting local Girl Scouts.

“If you’re allergic to nuts or you don’t like chocolate or that’s not your thing, you can always donate and then the items that are donated go to the food bank,” Dale said. “Each year, through the public’s generosity, we’re able to gift treat items in the fall and cookies in the spring to local community organizations. We appreciate the outpouring of support and are happy to have Food Bank of Central New York as our partner. We’re so glad this donation will help the communities it serves across our region.”

The Treats, Reads & More program supports GSNYPENN Girl Scouts who are learning financial literacy, practicing entrepreneurship and developing leadership skills like goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

Other products sold by the Girl Scouts include magazine subscriptions and Tervis tumblers.

For more information, go to foodbankcny.org or call the main number 315-437-1899.

People can still purchase treat items at community booths. These will be stationed at Destiny USA in Syracuse from 2 to 4 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2 to 4 p.m. on Dec. 8 and 12 to 4 p.m. on Dec. 30.

To register for Girl Scouts, visit gsnypenn.org.