Just outside of the Walmart on Topsy Lane in Carson City on Sunday, a local Scout is saving up for the trip of a lifetime.
“I’m selling popcorn,” she says. “I'm raising money to get to the world jamboree in Poland."
Piper Murnane is 14 years old. Her scouting journey began last year, around the time Boy Scout Troop 979 in Stateline started its journey.
Now, she's representing northern Nevada on an international stage.
“It's super cool,” she says. “It’s really exciting. I have always wanted to do something really important like that."
Murnane was originally on the waitlist for the jamboree after she applied. One scout wasn't able to make it, so she took the chance to step up.
The 2027 World Scout Jamboree runs from July 30 to August 8 in Gdańsk, Poland. It will welcome 50,000 scouts from over 170 countries for camping, merit badge work, and other scouting activities.
It's certainly a benefit to Murnane's fundraiser that she has prior experience selling popcorn.
She took part in Troop 979’s popcorn kickoff for the season, and you can find a sorting hat from that event holding the kerchief around her neck.
“The popcorn kickoff was, Harry Potter themed this year,” she says. “They had a ‘plan your pitch" station.”
That station helped her learn not to take rejections personally, and to keep looking for that "yes."
“It's more of them, not really me,” the Scout says. “I'm just kind of used to just pitching and then they'll either respond or not."
Murnane adds, “my mom always tells me it's okay to get no's because the more no's, the closer you get to a yes."
Each bag of popcorn will run you $20. Five of that stays with Troop 979, and $10 goes to the Nevada Area Council, which oversees Scouting America in northern Nevada and far eastern California.
Murnane says she hopes other scouts take the initiative and follow in her footsteps.
“For other kids who want to do this,” she says, “they need to put themselves out there and not be afraid to go after what they want."
Murnane will be selling popcorn in-person at the Wal-Mart on Topsy Lane in Carson City once again. Her final pop-up will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 31st.
If you can’t make it out — or if you’d like to buy nuts or jerky instead of popcorn — Murnane has an online shop you can go to.
