GetGo donates Girl Scout cookies to educators during Teacher Appreciation Week

Giant Eagle’s GetGo Cafe and Market convenience chain is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week by giving teachers in the Pittsburgh region a cookie break.

GetGo has purchased $25,000 worth of Tagalongs, Samoas, Thin Mints and other Girl Scout cookies for the doubly sweet gesture.

Store officials noted the covid-19 pandemic has curtailed traditional sales of cookies by members of the Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania organization, canceling sales planned at many Giant Eagle supermarkets. GetGo’s purchase will provide a treat to teachers and a financial boost to the Girl Scouts while donating 5,000 boxes of cookies that would otherwise remain unsold.

GetGo is partnering with a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, The Education Partnership, to get the cookies to area teachers.

The nonprofit on Thursday was transporting the cookies to its warehouse, according to Jane McCarty, director of operations.

The Education Partnership will reach out to administrators at the 141 schools it serves in the region and will invite the schools to pick up the cookies for distribution to teachers, McCarty said.

“What appropriate timing for this week to be Teacher Appreciation Week amid the profound challenges teachers are facing today, pivoting their classrooms and lessons to a remote learning environment,” said The Education Partnership Executive Director Josh Whiteside in a news release.

He said the donated cookies are “a tangible and delicious way to show thanks for the oftentimes taken-for-granted multitude of roles teachers play in society.”

The Education Partnership provides free school supplies for about 4,700 teachers and 55,000 students in schools with low-income populations in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties. To participate, schools must have at least 70 percent of their students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.