MADISON – Brownie Troop 708 decided to donate money from selling Girl Scout cookies to furnish an area in Madison Public Library, thus helping the Madison community as a whole.

“Each year, our troop looks for a place to donate a portion of our cookie proceeds. We took a vote and the girls knew they wanted to help out the new library,” Brownie Troop 708 Leader Beth Crocker said.

Crocker and the 23 Brownies in her troop first considered a service project for the library. However, Youth Services Librarian Maggie Allen advised the Brownies that the library staff was not ready yet.

“Maggie did have a wish list for the children’s area. It was a no-brainer,” Crocker said.

“We want to say ‘Thank you!’ to these amazing young women,” Allen said. “They’ve been lifelong library users, and we’re touched that, without any prompting, they selected the library as the recipient of the proceeds from all of their hard work.”

“And they really must’ve worked hard — the items they purchased for our display exceeded our expectations. Way to go, girls,” Allen said. The Brownies bought $300 of merchandise.

A chunk of the troop’s cookie proceeds will pay for their annual trip to Savannah, Ga., home of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts.

Allen believes the community will love everything that Troop 708 selected and donated to decorate and highlight the author area. “There were so many items, but the majority (involved) stuffed animals representing the four different authors on display in the author’s corner in the children’s area,” Allen said.

“We have Knufflebunny, Elephant and Piggie (stuffed animals) from author Mo Willems’ books. An enormous, very hungry caterpillar from Eric Carle books. And even more to highlight Dr. Seuss and Mem Fox, a favorite author of Youth Service Librarian ‘Ms. Lisa’ Blackmon and myself,” Allen said.

“Everyone should come in and visit all of our new friends,” Allen said.

Fourteen of the troop’s 23 Brownies attend Rainbow Elementary School. The other girls represent all but one elementary school in Madison. Brownie Troop 708 meets as Asbury United Methodist Church.

The troop has scheduled three camping trips this spring. Several girls will camp this summer, too.