Girl Scouts gear up for annual fundraiser
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- Published on Monday, 16 January 2012 16:03
Mary Loveland
Daily Elk Citian
Listen for your doorbells and look out for girls in green and brown uniforms. It's that time of year to fill your pantry with your favorite cookies.
Beginning Jan. 27, Girl Scouts in Elk City and the surrounding area will start selling their famous Girl Scout Cookies.
But, cookie sales aren't just about making money, they come with life lessons that each girl benefits from.
"Cookie sales are really important to the girls and the troop," Kristi Tillman, troop leader and service unit event coordinator, said. "On the girl level it's confidence building, it's sales, it's money skills and skills they're going to use for the rest of their life no matter what field they get in."
Cookie sales teach each girl the responsibility of handling money and goal setting.
Before sales begin, each girl and troop sits down and sets a goal for how many boxes they would like to sell.
"As a troop we decide what we're going to do with the money we earn," Tillman said. "We set that goal then we work towards it."
The money earned can go towards a field trip to the zoo, to a water park or whatever else they may decide on.
The Beckham and Roger Mills Girl Scouts are gearing up to start cookie sales January 27. To get the girls excited and ready to sell, sell, sell troop leaders held a slumber party and Cookie Rally for the scouts Friday night. Cookie sells not only raise money for troops but teach valuable lessons the girls can use life-long. According to Kristi Tillman, service unit event coordinator, By going door to door to sell cookies and setting up booths outside of local businesses, girls learn how to manage money, make change, interact with others in the community and set goals. The girls will get to decide what they want to do with the money raised, which can include going on a field trip. The remaining money will go towards buying crayons, yarn, beads or other supplies they girls may need. The Girl Scouts will be selling 6 different types of cookies this year at $3.50 a box. (Video by Mary Loveland, Daily Elk Citian)
In addition, Girl Scouts can earn individual prizes called incentives. This year they can earn anything from a badge for selling 20 boxes to a brand new iPad for selling 3,000 boxes.
"The other option they have is earning 'cookie dough,'" Tillman said. "It's Girl Scout money they get on a Girl Scout credit card."
The Girl Scouts can collect $15 for every 50 boxes of cookies they sale that can be put towards anything in the council store and also towards registration and membership fees for next year.
"It really teaches them how to budget and handle their money," Tillman said.
On the troop level, cookies sales serve as the biggest fundraiser for the year. Although the Girl Scouts of Beckham and Roger Mills Counties receive non-profit support from organizations like the Elk City United Fund, that money goes towards the council rather then to the individual troops. This fundraiser helps troop leaders purchase supplies like crayons, yarn and beads for Girl Scout activities.
"This is the financial backing for the year," Tillman said. "It saves the leaders from having to take money out of their pockets, which happens a lot."
This year, there are 170 girls involved with Girl Scouts in the Beckham/Roger Mills Service Unit. All 170 have chosen to participate in the cookie sales.
Last year, the total sales for the service unit reached 19,130 boxes. A select group of girls sold over 700 boxes each.
To get the girls ready and excited for cookie sales, troop leaders held a sleepover and cookie rally for them Friday night.
Tonya Roark, troop leader and community service team manager, was one of the volunteers that spent the entire night with the girls.
"It went over very well," Roark said. "The girls love cookie time. It's one of their favorite things to do because they're actually out doing something."
Girls got to play games that included spelling out "Girl Cookies" with their bodies on the floor of the Girl Scout Hut and compete in a chanting competition among different troops. Despite the leaders' efforts to wear the girls out for a reasonable bed-time, the girls were having too much fun.
"I heard there was not a sleeping child all night," Tillman said.
The girls will hit the streets in just a matter of weeks. Sales will continue until March 11. This year, the girls will offer six different types of cookies at $3.50 a box: Do-Si-Does (peanut butter sandwich), Tagalongs (peanut butter patties), Savannah Smiles (lemon-wedge with powdered sugar), Thin Mints, Samoas (Caramel deLights) and Trefoils (shortbread).
"Cookie sales are pretty much synonymous to Girl Scouts," Roark said. "That is the one thing that every council in the United States does."
