One grandfather in Michigan isn’t letting distance or regulations get in the way of supporting his grandchild.
Retired small business owner Mark Rantz knows what it takes to be an entrepreneur, so when he found out his granddaughter, Eloise, 10, was selling Girl Scout cookies, he knew they would place an order – they just didn’t know it would be for two dozen boxes.
Earlier this year, the West Point Garrison Commander denied the Girl Scouts on base the ability to conduct cookie sales door-to-door as it goes against the solicitation policies of the esteemed military academy. A hallmark of selling the beloved cookies, it made it nearly impossible for troop members to meet their goals.
“On one hand, the military has its ways, and I appreciate that, so I get it, you have to have rules and regulations. And I also understand no soliciting,” Rantz told We Are The Mighty. “But all that said and done, people want to support the Girl Scouts and to not have an exception or some type of a rule that would allow Eloise and the other Girl Scouts to go door to door … I just felt bad about that.”
So Rantz – along with help from his wife Sue – did what any grandparent would do: He ordered 24 boxes in support of Eloise and her troop.
“Sue got to the order form before I did, and started putting down all of our favorites, listing quantities,” Rantz said, adding that the online order forms make it easy for modern grandparents to support their families from a distance. “And she said, ‘Hey, take a look at this. Do you think this works?’ And I added it up and got to 24 and I figured that’s probably at least double what we normally order.”
While the gesture seems grand (cookies are roughly $6/box these days), it’s par for the course according to Rantz’s daughter and Eloise’s mom, Kayla Witt.
“Eloise and I laughed so hard we cried when we saw such a huge cookie order come in from Papa and Grandma Sue. She was just beaming knowing she was that much closer to her sales goal,” Witt said. “I am so grateful reflecting on every moment in my life my parents have stepped up to fill a hole of disappointment someone else had created. So much so that I barely noticed the hole was even there, they were so quick to fill it with their love. Now they do the same for our four kids, and I could not be more thankful for them.”
As for Rantz and his wife, they’re already enjoying the cookies they ordered and would do it again in an instant.
“Everybody needs a little support and encouragement in life,” Rantz said. “If Eloise – or any other 10-year-old – isn’t going to be as successful as I think they should be through this kind of activity, that would be disappointing. Girls, boys, everybody needs all the support they can get.”