As several Girl Scouts stood in front of the Shop n’ Save store on Mill Street in Port Allegany Tuesday trying to sell their last 25 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, the temperature was 12 degrees — and they were freezing.

That is until a stranger walked up to the table and offered to buy all the boxes of cookies so Girl Scouts and Cadets with Troop 16837 and Troop 22114 could wrap it up and go home. The stranger, described as in his 30s, did something even more generous when he took all the cookies he purchased, gave them to the store manager and asked that the cookies be given free to customers.

On Wednesday, Girl Scout troop leader Ashley Archer of Port Allegany, said she and the girls were very impressed with the man’s act of kindness and would like to find out who he is so they can thank him. She admitted they were both pleased and surprised when the man helped them out with the purchase.

“He came out and said ‘I’m here to buy all of your cookies, how many do you have left,’” Archer recalled. “He said he didn’t care how many we had, he wanted to buy them all.”

She said that while the cookies cost collectively $105, the man handed them $120, telling them to keep the change.

“We weren’t expecting anybody to buy the rest of our cookies,” Archer explained. “There wasn’t a good variety left — we had run out of all the (popular) kinds so we were standing out there for hours trying to rid of the kinds not very many people like.”

Archer said the man brought the manager of the store out to the table and asked him to bring the cookies inside and dispense of them as people came through the line.

“When we asked him why he did it and he said that he was being nice because he didn’t want us standing out in the cold any longer,” Archer continued. “It was 12 degrees when we were selling the cookies, but (weather reports) said it felt like negative 9.”

She noted the children were outside the store from 4 to 7 p.m., but took shifts sitting in a warm vehicle while others stayed with the merchandise. The six Junior Girl Scouts and three Cadets  were able to leave an hour early from their sales, thanks to the mystery customer.

Archer added that there were other customers who bought the girls hot cocoa in the store that same afternoon.

“We had tons of good people and lots of donations because of the cold,” Archer stated.

On a related note, she said the cookie sales will help sponsor a trip for the troops to Washington, D.C., in June for a tour of the White House.

Melissa Stepp, a shift manager at the store, said she and the store manager, Rod Howard, were also touched by the kindness of the stranger.

“He was a very nice man,” Stepp said, adding the staff primarily gave out the cookies to families with children. “This was the second pay-it-forward we’ve had at this store. A woman came in and had paid for her groceries and then said ‘I’d like to put $10 on a gift card to pay it forward because I had been down on my luck and somebody helped me out.’ We then gave it to a family in need.”

On a final note, Archer said she and girls are very thankful to the actions of the man.

“We’d like to know who it was so we can write him some cards,” she concluded.