Millions of cookies: Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gives Girl Scouts $85M
Girl Scout cookies aren’t just for girls.
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated millions of the treats to various charities around the world.
She has donated nearly $85 million in cookies to causes ranging from orphans, refugees, women’s empowerment and disaster relief.
The cookie mogul said she is “so passionate” about giving cookies away to kids of all ages because of the role they play in a child’s life.
“This is my way of letting kids know they are valuable and not disposable,” she told USA TODAY. “The kids I’m helping do not need to be given away. They don’t need handouts.”
“I’m so passionate about the kids on the ground, but most of all, they are special to me,” she added. “I’m doing this for them because they make me smile.”
Scott made the news by giving $10 million in cookies to the United Nations Children’s Fund.
She’s giving away cookies to UNICEF
On Monday, she gave $10 million in cookies to UNICEF, which said she is “so passionate about the children on the ground, but most of all, they are special to me,” she said Thursday on Fox & Friends.
The UNICEF Fund, which works at the world’s largest children’s agency, has helped kids around the world, primarily in war-torn countries, with everything from food to medicine to education and protection.
The organization’s founder, President Mary Robinson, called Scott “a real trailblazer” in giving money to the organization. Scott herself started donating to UNICEF in March last year after spending years as a Girl Scout mom, making more than 100 donations.
She first gave the Girl Scouts more than $50 million in 2009 after giving the organization $100,000 to start a project to help children in Africa get access to clean water.
“It’s not about the number of gifts we give, but the impact we can make and I’ve learned a lot from Girl Scout leaders about how they used to do this and we used to just