'She is so over-the-moon excited'
It's not quite the first robin of spring, but one harbinger of the new year has arrived: the Girl Scout cookie sale.
The tinsel and gift wrap had barely been thrown away before the cookie order forms popped up in office kitchenettes and work break rooms throughout the county.
But the ongoing pandemic has changed the Girl Scouts' way of selling Thin Mints and Tagalongs.
Like so much else, cookie sales are now being done from a safe social distance.
Stefanie Marshall, public relations and marketing manager for Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania, the organization that oversees Girl Scout activities in 27 counties in the western part of the state, said cookie sales have had to adjust to the times.
“We want to make sure the girls and their families feel as safe as possible,” Marshall said.
Instead of selling cookies door to door, Marshall said Girl Scouts are using door hangers.
“That way they don't have to knock and talk to someone,” she said. “They can leave the information.”
And Scouts' sales pitches have moved from card tables in front of stores to the internet.
Online selling platform
Marshall said her organization has an online selling platform called Digital Cookies.
Depending on the local Girl Scout council, Scouts will either use a personalized cookie website, mobile app, e-card or direct link to ask their customers to make a Digital Cookie purchase.For Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania, Marshall said, “Each Girl Scout has an individual link that goes to an e-commerce site.“Girls can add their own photos, sales-pitch videos and their own goals for using their proceeds,” she said.Digital cookie sales can be shipped anywhere in the country.Conventional sales methods — selecting cookies from an order form taped to the bulletin board at work — will stop at the end of January. Cookie deliveries are slated to be done by Feb. 17.“One advantage of direct shipments is that you will get them ahead of all your friends, which is nice benefit,” of ordering from the Digital Cookie site, said Marshall.Brittany Morse, Girl Scout leader of Brownie Troop 52848, said with their parents' permission, her troop members link to the Digital Cookie site so out-of-town relatives can find their links on the site and buy cookies from the Brownies.
Amy Carbungco of Cabot said her daughter, Tessa, 9, has been using videos as a sales tool for her cookie sales.Tessa, a junior Girl Scout with Troop 52942, has been ahead of her time with her digital sales pitches.“Tessa has always wanted to do videos,” Carbungco said. “She's always said, 'Record it; put me on Facebook.'“This year she was super excited to make videos,” Carbungco said. “She made three this year.”Carbungco said she made an initial video and then two more using Thin Mints and Trefoils to make ice cream sandwiches.Tessa set a goal to sell 1,200 boxes, and her mother credits the videos with helping her reach that goal in seven days.“She is so over-the-moon excited,” she said.Very popularHowever they are sold, Girl Scout cookies are very popular.Marshall said that, last year, members of Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania sold 2.48 million cookies worth $2.1 million. This money goes back to the local troop treasuries, she said.Once again, the venerable Thin Mints were the most popular cookie sold and have been the reigning champs for quite some time.Tagalongs and Samoas round out the top three sellers for 2020.There are always eight varieties of cookies for sale, and cookies are retired all the time.Retired cookies include Praline Royals, Ole Oles (coconut and pecan) and Juliettes (caramel and pecans).Marshall said cookie availability is “more based on a rotation. It's not like there's one that doesn't perform well.”“There's always going to be a lemon cookie,” she said. “We just go through different variations of that.”Two licensed bakers, Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers, produce the eight varieties, including three that are mandatory (Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwich/Do-si-dos and Shortbread/Trefoils).
Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania uses Little Brownie Bakers.Goal-settingThe purpose of the annual cookie sale isn't just to raise money.The core program is to teach Girl Scouts goal-setting and money management.Because of the pandemic, cookie sales aren't the only Girl Scout activities that have been moved online.Starting in March, Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania, encompassing nearly 20,000 Girl Scouts and 10,000 adult members, moved everything onto a virtual platform. The move included the 1,200 Girl Scouts in Butler County.Scouts had meetings and could earn badges through Zoom meetings.Brownie leader Morse said she and her daughter, Trinity, 8, have been having Facebook activities with Trinity's fellow Brownies.“We've just set up a date for everyone to do their painting badge. They've picked up painting stuff and are sharing their paintings on Facebook,” Morse said,“We also hosted virtual summer camp,” Marshall said. “We moved all summer camps online.“It was camp at home. It was very well received. The girls had a lot of fun,” she said.For the fall recruitment season last year, the traditional open house nights at schools to introduce girls to Girl Scouts have been moved to virtual programs.“We're hosting some now,” Marshall said. “We're inviting girls to come build a robot dance party.”The pandemic has presented challenges, she said.“We can't talk to new families as easily as we have in the past, but we pivot and come up with new ways of doing things,” Marshall said.“We just want to get back into the rhythm of Girl Scouts being in the community and working toward their goal of community service,” she said.Subject to future conditions, Marshall said Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania plans to reopen its summer camps this year, including Camp Redwing in Renfrew.There will be no overnight sessions, but Redwing and the others will be hosting a day camp.Brandy Waldroup of Fenelton, leader of Girl Scout Troop 21945, said while her 13-member troop has had Zoom meetings last year, they met in person in the fall for service projects, adhering to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.“We hope to get to the Petroleum Valley Youth Center this summer,” Waldroup said. “It's outdoors, so we would be spread out more.”She hopes to take the troop to a few camps this summer. “Actually, individual troops are permitted to meet in person now, so long as they are meeting CDC guidelines,” Marshall said.“We are holding strong. I think that its definitely presents a challenge.”
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