While they will not have any of their trademark cookies for sale, a group of area Girl Scouts will still have plenty of treats for visitors to T.K. Lawless Park Saturday.

Members of Girl Scout Troop 8397 will host The Sea Turtle 5K Run/Walk from 9 to 11 a.m. that morning at the Cass County park, located at 15122 Monkey Run St., Vandalia. Registration for the 5K run/walk costs $25 for adults and teenagers 15 and older, and can be done online at raceplanner.com/register/index/seaturtle5k or at the park the day of the race.

Registration costs $20 for Girl Scouts, who may use the event as a way to earn their fitness badge. Members of the military, police officers, firefighters and EMT workers may receive a $3 discount by emailing organizer Caleigh Dahn at cale.dahn@gmail.com.

Children may register for a 1K fun run for free.

The troop is organizing the event as a fundraiser for Dahn, a freshman at Southwestern Michigan College and a senior Scout with the troop.

The Coloma resident will use the money raised through the event to pay for tuition, airfare and supplies for an upcoming 15-day trip to Costa Rica and Panama as part of the Girl Scout Destinations program. During the trip, she and other Girl Scouts from across the U.S. will learn about the Central American countries, volunteer at local villages, learn scuba diving and help out at a sea turtle conservatory — hence the name of the event.

For Dahn, an aspiring zoologist, the trip will provide her with plenty of useful experience for her eventual career choice, she said.

In addition to sharing her experiences with her troop — a virtual group comprised of members from Michigan and Wisconsin — after she returns home, she will also speak to area elementary schools about her trip.

In order to raise the $4,000 required for her travels, Dahn and her mother, Maria — one of the leaders of the troop — came up with the idea of hosting a 5K run, as newly hatched sea turtles “run” toward the ocean after they are born to avoid being preyed upon by birds. Knowing several runners who frequent Lawless, they figured the park would make an ideal location for the event.

“It’s a beautiful park, and it already has a 5K path worked out, so we didn’t have to start from scratch,” Caleigh said.

Caleigh and the other Girl Scouts have spent the last several weeks planning for the event, reaching out to sponsors and spreading the word to interested runners. Each of the members have divvied up tasks for the event, which will include a silent auction and play area for children.

“It’s hard for adults to get outside their comfort zones, so to see these girls step up like this is amazing,” Maria said.

People with questions about the event may contact Caleigh by her email or may visit facebook.com/events/748157942019501.