Girl Scout Who Came Down With COVID Not Letting Virus Take A Bite Out Of Her Cookie Sales

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – When it comes to Girl Scout cookies, 12-year-old Maria Lombardi is a champion.

"I've been a Girl Scout since kindergarten and I really like it," Lombardi said. "It helps me be with my Girl Scout troop, it helps me gain confidence and it helps me be a better sales person."

That's an understatement. Lombardi is one of the top sellers in Miami Springs Troop 2564.  She sold 2,000 boxes of cookies last year, more than 1,500 the year before. Her goal this year is 3,000 boxes, and it looked reachable until she tested positive for COVID last week.

"She developed a fever the first weekend of cookie sales and it was confirmed she had COVID," said her mother, Herlinda Lombardi. "She can't do the booths or sell door to door or interact with the community."

Lombardi and other Girl Scouts are making it easier to get your cookies this season. The scouts have even teamed up with DoorDash to allow drivers to deliver cookies to your door. Lombardi and her mom are taking orders by contacting friends and past customers. They then hop in the car and do their own deliveries of Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas and other popular cookies.

"We do contactless delivery," Herlinda Lombardi said. "We hop in the car, she drops it off on the porch, they pay with Zelle or Venmo, so its contactless sales and contactless delivery."

Mom said COVID is a good life lesson in overcoming adversity for her daughter, who said she's determined not to let COVID be a cookie monster.

"Selling was fun before COVID," she said. "We would go to the stores and set up a booth and let people try samples."

Still, the younger Lombardi is determined to reach her goal.

"I just want to sell more Girl Scout cookies. I want to sell more and more and get better," she said.

If you'd like to help Lombardi reach her goal, you can email her at CookieLombardi2564@gmail.com, or you can buy from any Girl Scout in South Florida by going to the Girls Scouts of Tropical Florida website.