BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Amid ongoing tornado recovery, a sense of normalcy can go a long way.

Since 1917, the Girl Scouts have sold their iconic cookies, and this year is no different, even for western Kentucky Girls Scouts affected by last year’s unprecedented tornado outbreak.

Tagalongs are Carmen O’Rourk’s favorite Girl Scout cookie.

“If you buy into it, it’s kind of crunchy, and I like that about it,” the 8-years-old said at her school in Bowling Green.

Carmen is busy placing orders and taking names for Kentuckians purchasing their favorite Girl Scout cookies.

“I think I sold some to my grandma and other people, but I don’t know their names,” she said.

Felicia Bland is the membership experience coordinator with Girl Scouts Kentuckiana, who covers 13 counties, including Warren County, told Spectrum News 1 each troop chooses how they want to spend their cookie program money.

“It’s important because not only is it a cookie sale, these girls are learning skills they are going to need once they become an adult. So learning goal setting, they are learning money management; they are learning team building,” she explained.

Each troop decides how they want to spend their well-earned cookie sales money. Carmen said her troop hasn’t chosen how they will spend their cookie money, but she already has some ideas. 

Besides a trip to the water park at Beech Bend Amusement Park, Carmen is also interested in helping people affected by last year’s unprecedented tornados.

“Because if someone else was in my position, I wouldn’t want them to have to deal with this, too,” Carmen explained.

Carmen was in the basement with her family when an EF-3 tornado hit her house in Bowling Green on Dec. 11, 2021. 

“The wind started blowing harder and harder… then, a few seconds after that, we heard some glass shatter. My mom’s car got totaled,” Carmen explained. “My cousin, Malik, he was staying with us; he’s three years old, and he was the only one who has calm.”

The damage left her home unsafe to live in.

“It’s been weird because we’ve moved like three times. We have moved from our house to a friend’s house, from a friend’s house to a hotel, and from a hotel to someone else’s house,” Carmen said.

Carmen’s dad, Patrick O’Rourke, said the hope is to move back into their family home as soon as possible for a sense of normalcy, especially for him and his wife’s two kids.

However, despite recent repairs, including a brand new roof, the home’s safety is still in question after a structural engineer recently reviewed the property.

“For kids, when you don’t have answers with, ‘Hey, this is only going to last this long or I promise you that we are gonna get back in soon,’ you know, we don’t want to make promises to our daughter that we can’t keep. So we just have to, as adults, sometimes you just have to say, ‘I don’t know,’” O’Rourke explained.

O’Rourke, who is also a Girl Scout camp ranger, said Carmen is very social. So when her troop had an event before Christmas, it was good for her.

“If nothing else, just to lay eyes on her friends because when you look out my backyard and you see destruction, we look around the house, you see no furniture, holes in the walls, that kind of thing, but for her to be able to look out and see her friends, these people are still here, you know, I think that was a good thing for her,” he said.

Even though Carmen’s troop hasn’t set their cookie sales goal, yet, she has already made one for herself. She’s aiming to sell 500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, 200 more than last year, she told Spectrum News 1.

“I set that goal just because I want to try to see how much more I could get than last year, and to see if I can accomplish my goal,” she explained.

It’s something she can look forward to and be certain about during uncertain times.

If you are interested in supporting Girl Scout troops affected by the tornados, Girl Scouts Kentuckiana has listed impacted troops’ cookie sale sites on their website so people can order cookies directly from those troops.

Girl Scouts Kentuckiana is also supporting troop members by replacing lost uniforms and supplies for free. You can donate to this cause here. 

Currently, Girl Scout cookies are available for purchase online. Starting on Feb. 25, 2022, the iconic cookie booths will start popping-up across Kentucky.