[singlepic id=139 w=320 h=240 float=]
By Sophie Adler and Juno Portaleo
It’s that time of year again, when millions of girls walk the streets of the world trying to sell as many cookies as possible. That’s right! It’s Girl Scout Cookie Sale Season!
The first Girl Scout cookies were made in 1917. They were simple sugar cookies, home baked, and sold in a high school cafeteria for around 30 cents a pound. Today, when you think of Girl Scout cookies, you probably think of the classic cookies everyone loves, such as Trefoils, Samoas, and Thin Mints. Those are just a few of the cookies Girl Scouts are selling this year. Other choices are Do-Si-Dos, Dulce de Leche, Lemon Chalet Cremes, Lemonades, Savannah Smiles, Shout-outs, Tag-a-longs, Thanks-a-lot, and Thank U Berry Much. Last year, 25% of all the Girl Scout cookies sold in the United States were Thin Mints.
How and where can you buy Girl Scout cookies? You can wait for Girl Scouts to come to your door this January and February. You can choose to pay the low price of $3.50 per box on the spot, or when your cookies are delivered, or visit a cookie booth. Troop 3107 will have a cookie booth in front of InTune Studios in Grant Park every Saturday from 10:00am to 3:00pm in February and March. Please visit their website at www.gstroop3107.com for other booth locations.
Now, enough talk about the delicious cookies themselves, and more about the profit Girl Scouts receive from the sweets. Seventy percent of the sales go to the local Girl Scout council and troops, primarily funding Girl Scout camps and camping trips. The remaining 30% goes to the baker to pay for the cookies.
Last year, Girl Scout Troop 3107 sold 7,200 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, raising over $20,000 for the council. Of that, $4,700 came directly back to the troop. Troop 3107 uses its cookie money each year to help pay for its troop-wide Camporee, a weekend-long camping trip at Girl Scout Camp Meriwether in Luthersville, Georgia. The cookie money is used to reduce the cost to all girls and to provide scholarships for girls who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend.
Another Girl Scout camp that benefits from cookie money is Camp Timber Ridge in Mableton, Georgia. When camping there recently, the sixth-grade Cadettes of Troop 3107 spoke with the camp ranger, Russ McIver. Ranger McIver is a Girl Scout dad and the caretaker of this 220-acre Girl Scout camp. He shared that without cookie sales Girl Scout camps such as Timber Ridge could not exist. Camps are very expensive to maintain, and the cookie money raised by Girl Scouts provides a significant portion of the budget.
Ms. Elizabeth Carr and Ms. Danielle Hanson are two of the key adult organizers of cookie sales every year for Troop 3107. Ms. Carr remembers selling cookies as a girl and believes it is important for the girls to participate in raising the money to pay for all the fun they get to have as Girl Scouts. Ms. Hanson also emphasized that selling cookies is important for learning business skills like money management and marketing.
Please support Troop 3107 by purchasing delightful Girl Scout cookies!
Editor’s note: Juno and Sophie are 6th Grade Cadette Girl Scouts with Troop 3107.
Comments are closed.