Hometown Hero - Madelynne Pehl

Photo by Rory O’Driscoll of the La Crosse Tribune

This week’s Hometown Hero is 9 year old Madelynne Pehl of Holmen. Madelynne sold 1,646 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. That’s right, 1,646 boxes. That’s 1,646 boxes of Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos and Samoas. This grand total makes her the 2013 top seller from the Badgerland Council.

Madelynne has been in the Girl Scouts for four years now, but selling a huge amount of cookies isn’t new for this Brownie. Last year, she sold 1,400 boxes of cookies. This year, she was motivated by the Kindle Fire that would be awarded to the girl who sells the most cookies in the Council. She got that and a trip to the birthplace of Girl Scouts in the US, Savannah, Georgia where she will visit the birthplace of the founder Juliette Gordon Low. With the support of her parents, David and Jessica Pehl, Madelynne has surpassed not only her own goals but those of the whole Badgerland Council which sold 1,419,108 boxes in all.

Madelynne’s favorite part of selling all those cookies? Learning about the money aspect of each transaction. Her mother, Jessica, said that initially selling cookies was hard for Madelynne who is normally shy. But she loved making change for each of her customers and mastering the business side of this annual Girl Scout fundraiser.

Her hard work and dedication will help her Brownie Troop 4242. All the money from her cookie sales ($3.75 per box) stays in our communities to fund summer camp programs, community service projects and travel.

In addition to being a championship cookie seller, Madelynne is a gymnast with the Blue Angels Gymnastics Club, a member of Union Mills 4-H and a third grader at Viking Elementary in Holmen.

The big question on everyone’s mind though is how is she going to top this next year?

Congratulations to you Madelynne! Keep up the good work and continue to be a Hometown Hero.

Hometown Hero is a weekly feature put together by Rep. Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska). If you have any suggestions of a Hometown Hero, send a short description of why you think this person should be a Hometown Hero and contact information of both you and the nominee to rep.doyle@legis.wisconsin.gov.