Trace Adkins Delivers Special Message From U.S. Troops to Girl Scout

A young girl in California got the sweet surprise of a lifetime from Trace Adkins on Tuesday (May 5).

Adkins was in Kandahar, Afghanistan on his tenth USO tour, performing for U.S. troops stationed overseas when a large donation of cookies and cards from the Girl Scouts in La Habra, Calif. arrived in the office of Lt. Col. Bill Wyles, while Adkins happened to be there.

According to NBC in Los Angeles, the Girl Scouts and other kids in La Habra's Operation Stay Connected program sent more than 1,000 boxes of cookies and letters to troops in Kandahar. Adkins tells the station he wanted to say thank you in person, partly because he's seen his own daughters send letters to Santa and never know if they were received.

"I thought that I could put forth just a little bit of effort and actually find one of these kids and say hey, your card did make it to the soldiers and they appreciated it," Adkins says. "That's all I really wanted to do."

With that in mind, Adkins picked out his favorite from among the cards, and he and Wyles took a photo with it. Adkins promised to return the card to 8-year-old Jessica Santos Alatorre, a second grade student in La Habra's Library Homework Help program at Arbolita Elementary School.

He kept that promise on Tuesday, visiting the school in person to meet with the students, and giving Jessica her card back. She made the card between homework assignments. "I didn't write words, but I meant to say I love you," Jessica says, pointing to the heart on her special card.

Girl Scout officials estimate the Girl Scouts throughout Orange County have donated nearly 58,000 boxes to active service members and veterans in the last year.

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