Make it a Hit with Girl Scout Cookies

Let the Make it a Hit! Girl Scout Cookie Sales Program begin.

Today is the first day that Girl Scouts in the Northeastern New York Council can start selling the much anticipated cookies. 

Much like the eggnog and peppermint bark in the winter, or the marshmallow peeps and Cadbury eggs in the spring, Girl Scout cookies are a seasonal treat that I look forward to all year.

In my home, we each have our favorites.  My son and I crave the chocolaty caramel goodness of the Samoas, while my daughter prefers the peanut butter cookies such as the Tagalongs or the Do-Si-Does.  We have also discovered the delights of Thin Mints in the freezer.  Yum!

Spreading joy with Girl Scout cookies should be sufficient reason to participate in the cookie sales program, but there is so much more behind the sweet facade.

Troop Fundraiser

Cookie sales are the primary source of our troop income.  The money that the girls raise pays for their activities, service projects, and trips.

As the girls get older, their projects and travel plans are more ambitious.  Our girls want to help renovate the local food pantry.  They also want to go to the Hershey Park Girl Scout Camp-O-Ree this Spring.   Next Winter, they’re talking about a trip to Puerto Rico. 

These ambitious trips will, hopefully, be funded by cookie sale income.   Our six girls have set a team goal of selling 1,500 boxes of cookies.  This is a big, audacious goal but I bet that that they will surprise themselves and surpass this number.

Entrepreneurial Training

The reason that I think that they will surprise themselves is that, for the first time ever, these girls will take full advantage of the Girl Scouts eEntrepreneur program.  Our troop will be using all the tech tools that are available to put the girls’ leadership into action:

• Excel Goal Action Planner - A tool for budgeting and tracking sales.
• Marketing Plan Guide - In six simple steps, the girls will create a marketing plan like the pros.
• PowerPoint template - This can be used to create a polished presentation to use when contacting businesses.
• Business card template - All serious professionals need business cards.
• eCards - A fun way to announce that it’s Cookie Season.

A Gift of Caring

The cookie program will help the girls develop the skills to succeed with their biggest, boldest ambition this year. 

Last year, Girl Scouts in southern California had a huge ceremony to celebrate sending the one millionth box of Girl Scout cookies to armed forces overseas as part of Operation Thin Mint - “A taste of home and a note to show we care.”

Girl Scout cookies are one of the most requested items by deployed American soldiers.  And Girl Scouts all over the USA are responding by collecting donations to send to these brave men and women through programs like Operation Taste of Home or Operation Gratitude.

The response has been staggering.  In Nevada, a huge shipment of 4,000 boxes went out in May, 2006.  Tens of thousands of boxes have gone out from Hawaii.  In Arizona, the Council’s goal is to send 250,000 boxes of cookies this year.

These huge goals are powered by a simple desire to offer comfort and gratitude to the Americans who are sacrificing so much.  The Arizona Daily Star recently interviewed a soldier in Afghanistan:

When Air Force Tech Sgt. Jim Fisher was stationed in Afghanistan from February to August, eating off base meant donning heavy body armor and taking a chance at getting blown up.

Troops ate on base only.

So when care packages made their way to them, Fisher acknowledges that he developed a slight addiction to the chewy, coconut-caramel Girl Scouts cookies known as Samoas.

My troop hasn’t come up with a catchy name for our Gift of Caring to deployed American soldiers.  The girls aren’t even thinking that they can collect donations of thousands of boxes.  But, why not?

Sometimes, it really is worthwhile to dream big.

Help Us Dream Big

Can you think of a catchy name for our Gift of Caring to the overseas military troops initiative?  And, what kind of cookies do you think we should send?  Which is your favorite Girl Scout cookie?  Post a comment to share your suggestions.

If you would like to donate cookies to deployed American soldiers, contact a Girl Scout troop or your local Girl Scout Council. 

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