ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
For decades, Girl Scouts have been selling cookies to help raise money for projects, trips and other activities.
This year’s cookie season is about to kick off, and Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland Troop Engagement Specialist Michelle Daniels said excitement for this year has been building since December when young ladies began doing pre-sales for this year.
The season officially begins Feb. 13 and runs through March 22, and Daniels said for the price of $6, people get a box of their favorite cookies, including this year’s new flavor, the Exploremores.
“It’s a Rocky Road-inspired cookie,” she said. “It’s phenomenal. Exploremores reflect the spirit of exploration at the heart of every Girl Scout. We have our usual Girl Scout cookies – the Thin Mints, Caramel De-Lites, and the gluten-free chocolate chip.”
GSKH hosted a cookie kickoff Saturday in Liberal, and Liberal Troop 60129 leader Sarah McIntyre said pre-orders are being taken at this time.
“The cookies should arrive the week of the 12th,” she said. “They can officially open cookie booths that weekend, which is Feb. 13.”
The week of March 22 marks spring break in most area schools, and through that date, McIntyre said troops can plan cookie booths in their respective communities.
“With the Liberal troop, we plan to have a cookie booth hopefully every weekend. We are still finalizing when and where,” she said. “The first weekend, the 14th and 15th, we’ll be at Walmart.”
McIntyre said each troop will set its goal as to how many boxes of cookies to sell, and each girl will make their own individual goal.
“The Liberal group has to have a meeting about what goal we want to do as a troop, what we want to do with our funds,” she said.
McIntyre said her troop wants to do some kind of service work or community service with the money raised from cookie sales.
“We talked about a few options,” she said. “We still have to pin down exactly what we want to do. We also talked about something fun to do as a group. We haven’t finalized that.”
McIntyre said the number of members in her troop seem to increase and decrease on a regular basis.
“Last year, we had 12,” she said. “This year, we have 14. We had some leave, and we had some come in. This year, we have four or five new girls. It didn’t seem like we increased that much, but we have a handful of new girls.”
Daniels oversees troops in most of Southwest Kansas, and she said overall, she is the closest she has been to her recruiting goals in some time.
“We’re getting more and more girls,” she said. “It’s doing amazing because parents are wanting their girls to do something where you’re getting a lot out of it. You get a lot out of sports. You learn skills that way, but we work on so many different things in making girls better people. That’s helping a lot.”
As of Jan. 26, Daniels said she had met 60 percent of her most recent recruitment goal, and she has a recruitment event scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 13 at the Girl Scout Building in Liberal, as well as other sign-up events throughout the area.
Daniels, McIntyre and Elkhart Troop 60135 leader Grace Gomez like the benefits girls get out of selling cookies.
“It’s good because it teaches about money,” Gomez said. “A lot of kids and adults nowadays don’t understand how to count money back. It gets them face to face with people.”
McIntyre said girls earn rewards, and they also get cookie credits to help them with other projects and activities in Girl Scouts.
“Once they get up in age, they can do international and out-of-state things,” she said. “Cookie sales can help them be able to do that. Cookie sales can be used for something small, or they can be used for something big. It all depends on the goal they try and sell for.”
Through the Girl Scout cookie program, girls learn five skills, including goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. McIntyre said area youth likewise learn to operate their cookie sales as if it were their own business.
“We ask them, ‘What would you do if you started this business for real?”“ she said. “You’ve got to go out and find new customers. You’ve got to talk to their face. You’ve got to count their money. You’ve got to deliver their product.”
Daniels said cookie season is not just about girls selling cookies, as she too said the five skills are a large focus of the program.
“We push girls to learn how to count money even as Daisies, especially with the cookies being $6 a package,” she said. “It encourages the girls to learn how to count up and count back change. It’s harder. It’s not increments of five anymore.”
Daniels also said along with troop proceeds and the experience they get, girls also get program credits.
“They can spend them at the camp stores or the Girl Scout Shop, but it helps them go to camp,” she said. “It helps them do bigger trips. Older girls save their program credits for years and are able to pay for trips to Europe and everywhere else they want to go.”
Daniels said there are many ways to get cookies, and a good place to start is the GSKH Web site, www.kansasgirlscouts.org.
“They can go to the Web site, and they have a cookie booth finder,” she said. “They can just put in the ZIP code, and it finds the booth or the troop in that area. It sends them a request. If they don’t even know where to start to find cookies, that’s a good place to start. They have them shipped as well.”
As always, cookie enthusiasts can reach out to any Girl Scouts they know to receive cookies of their favorite flavor, and Daniels said while ordering through the GSKH council is great, in-person sales help girls work on their skills.
“We encourage them to bring their order forms, talk to the people directly,” she said. “If you don’t know a Girl Scout, you can check with the Garden City office, and we will find you one.”
Technology is now a part of everyday life, including cookie sales, and Daniels said this allows people to order cookies and girls to sell cookies from many states away.
“It’s a way for people to find the cookies, and they can order directly and have it delivered,” she said. “They can go online and purchase it and have a girl drop it off at their house.”
Daniels said while door-to-door sales are still encouraged, sometimes, it is just not a feasible way to do business.
“We live in a scary world, and we do have to take extra precautions,” she said.
Plains/Kismet Troop 60138 leader Tosha Chaffin said flyers are placed in post offices with a QR code to scan that will take buyers to a link.
As for selling goals, area troops have set high goals for this year, including in Sublette where Troop 60133 leader Christi Wilson said her members want to sell at least 4,800 boxes with only 10 girls.
Gomez said some her troop members have high goals for sales as well.
“My daughter alone is planning for 800 and really shooting for the 1,200 mark,” she said. “She’s already halfway there with pre-orders.”
McIntyre said with many area Girl Scouts, all that is needed to help girls sell cookies is a little nudge from adults.
“They just need a little help from the troop leader and their mom, and they make it happen,” she said.
As for what else is happening with area Girl Scouts, along with winter recruitment, which has about a month and a half left, there are some other exciting things happening in Southwest Kansas.
“We have Girl Scout Day at the Zoo on March 28,” she said. “The Girl Scouts will be at zoos all across our council. I will be at the Garden City zoo. Our mascot for this year’s cookie season is the black footed ferret. Even if the zoo does not have a black footed ferret, we’re still going to be there doing activities, but it’s pretty exciting for our area because Garden City has a black footed ferret. I will be there with activities to do whether you’re a Girl Scout or not, and I will have ways for you to sign up for Girl Scouts.”
In April, the Kansas Food Bank will partner with Girl Scouts and Dillon’s to help collect food to fight hunger. Daniels said she believes this year’s event is in Liberal.
“We did it at both Dillon’s locations in Garden City last year, and it was local troops that did that, including Sublette,” she said. “We will have buckets, and we will have lists of different foods people can donate. They weigh everybody at the end, and it’s pretty exciting.”
At last year’s drive the Sublette troop collected the most food, and Daniels said all collections go back to the Kansas Food Bank to help those in need locally.
The Girl Scouts at Wichita Wind Surge is scheduled for April 19, and for a discounted price, participants can register online if they are in Girl Scouts.
“All the girls who participate will get a fun patch,” she said. “The exciting thing membership wise is extended year early renewal starts April 1. Girls who are in pre-school going into kindergarten can sign up for Girl Scouts. There’s also financial assistance available for everybody who needs it.”
In addition to cookie sales, Daniels said just about anything Girl Scouts can be found at www.kansasgirlscouts.org.
“You can sign up online,” she said. “You can find troops online. You can sign up to be a volunteer online. You can find cookies. You can check out what events we have going on.”
Daniels said she is quite excited for this year’s cookie season.
“I really like cookies, and I love working on the entrepreneurial skills with girls,” she said. “I love the conversations it opens. Girl Scout cookies is just a small percentage of it, but cookies also help us to do the things we do in the areas and everywhere.”
