An eight-year-old cancer survivor in California has smashed the record for selling Girl Scout cookies, by shifting more than 32,000 boxes in a mammoth haul.
Lilly Bumpus, from San Bernardino, beat Ewing’s Sarcoma – a cancerous tumor that grows in the bones or soft tissue around bones – as a toddler and is now an active fundraiser on social media.
Her award-winning Team Lilly Foundation provides families emergency financial assistance and covers funeral expenses.
Every year, Lilly, her mother, her grandparents and scores of volunteers spend the holiday season stuffing personalized care packages for children across the country battling pediatric cancer.
When the Girl Scout cookie season began two months ago, Lilly began posting regular updates to the 157,000 followers on her Facebook page, charting her progress.
‘It feels like the world believes in me and it feels really good,’ Lilly said. ‘It means so much to me that people are coming to support me by buying cookies.’
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Lilly Bumpus, aged eight, celebrates breaking the record of selling the most Girl Scout cookies
Lilly is seen celebrating with her mother, Trish Bauer, as the milestone was reached
Lilly spoke of her delight at breaking the record and selling the most cookies
Her mother, Trish Bauer, said she was in awe of her daughter’s drive.
‘She showed our community and the world it’s more than just buying cookies or buying a product,’ she said.
‘It’s supporting someone’s dream. Whether it’s a business owner or an eight-year-old girl slinging Girl Scout cookies, Lilly encouraged people to support a dream and a mission, not just a product.’
Lilly, from San Bernardino, beat Ewing’s Sarcoma – a cancerous tumor that grows in the bones or soft tissue around bones – as a toddler and is now an active fundraiser on social media
Her award-winning Team Lilly Foundation provides families emergency financial assistance and covers funeral expenses. She is seen above in a photo from her facebook fundraising page
The funding raised will benefit childhood cancer research and feeding homeless communities.
On March 22 Lilly’s troop, comprised mostly of cancer survivors gathered outside her San Bernardino home to surprise her with an unveiling of her new record.
‘A lot of people approached us saying we must have gotten big businesses or sponsors to buy from us, or big donations,’ Bauer told Mercury News.
Lilly, pictured with her mother Trish Bauer, worked for two months to break the record
‘The biggest order placed was 100 boxes. Lilly reached 32,000 boxes out of everyone seeing value in buying one box, two boxes, four boxes, and everybody working together to try to be a small piece of a really big puzzle.
‘That, to me, is magical.’
The Girl Scouts were not allowed to go door-to-door this year, owing to the pandemic.
Instead they had to rely on online purchases and deliveries.
For more than two months, Lilly and her family delivered cookies before and after school.
In the evening, Lilly used social media to write about her day and respond to comments.
Boxes from their San Bernardino home have landed in all 50 states as well as Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Egypt, France and Italy.
‘Lilly has always been blessed with the community of supporters she’s had with her,’ Bauer said.
‘But for the first time, the world saw she had her own voice, her own mission, her own site that is bigger than cancer.
‘She just needed a space to do her own thing, and this was it.’
The previous reported record was 26,086 boxes, set recently by a New Jersey Girl Scout.
‘She sold her freaking heart out till the last day of Girl Scout cookie season,’ Bauer said
A celebration was held in San Bernardino to mark Lilly’s triumph
‘She sold her freaking heart out till the last day of Girl Scout cookie season,’ Bauer said.
‘When I told her at the beginning of the season how tough it would be to sell this year, she told me, ‘Nothing is impossible if everybody chose to make it possible.’
‘The reason I wanted to beat the record is because I wanted to help all kinds of Girl Scouts in the world and tell them they can do it just like I did,’ Lilly told the paper.
‘I just wanted to be inspiring.
‘I wanted to help.’