Maybe you have been craving a Do-si-do, Thin Mint, Samoa or Trefoil cookie but haven’t had the opportunity to find and purchase a box or two.
Starting next week, Brown County residents will have the chance to patron Girl Scout cookie booths stationed at local businesses.
Lauren McKinney is a leader for Girl Scout Troop 1053, which is based mostly out of Sprunica Elementary School. She took the leadership role last year, when the troop was one of two troops in Brown County.
The other troop, she said, was a closed group of high school Girl Scouts, which was the only troop in the county until 2022.
Troop 1053 started last year, with only four or five girls involved.
The Girl Scout Council took notice once Troop 1053 showed there was a local interest in scouting. The troop was then able to conduct cookie sales and participate in Girl Scout events.
Though getting local involvement and interest in scouts was initially difficult, McKinney said, they have experienced exponential growth in the past year.
There are now five troops in the county, totaling to more than 60 girls involved in Girl Scouts.
Every elementary school in the county has a troop, with Daisy and Brownie troops at Helmsburg and Van Buren Elementaries.
A leader from Indianapolis started a Junior troop that pulls from VBE and HES. Troops at SES have girls of all levels, through the 8th grade.
“It’s happened so fast,” McKinney said.
Recipe for success
Because of the growth that occurred in troops over the past year, local troops were given the opportunity to experience a Cookie Rally, hosted by the Girl Scout Council.
The event took place at the Brown County Public Library on Jan. 24, where girls learned about the cookies they were selling and the skills needed to sell at a booth.
Booth sales begin Feb. 10 and provide an opportunity for scouts to learn customer service and entrepreneurship. The Cookie Rally gave them an opportunity to practice those skills beforehand.
“It’s training them how to be comfortable in front of people,” McKinney said.
They also made scorecards to track how much they sell and made banners to decorate the cookie booths.
Story continues below gallery.
McKinney said that when she was in Girl Scouts, sales were made by going door-to-door, but that’s not the case anymore.
Initial cookie sales began in January, with girls selling to their families and friends either in person or through their parents on social media, McKinney said.
When the girls realized they were going to be selling cookies in person at booths, she said they got excited.
“We haven’t had a lot of cookie booths in the county,” she said.
“We have great businesses partnered with us to host booths.”
“We’re trying to grow it again,” McKinney said.
It takes two leaders to run a troop, and it can be difficult to lead a group with minimal leaders when there is a significant age spread between participants, McKinney said.
“We have a lot of girls interested — we need leaders.”
Those who volunteer as leaders get to see the girls grow and learn, McKinney said.
“I’ve had girls that come in and you hardly hear them talk,” she said.
“By the end of the year they’re much more social.”
It’s not just arts and crafts, she added, but life skills are also learned, in experiences like visiting a body shop to learn how to change a tire.
Girl Scouts also give back to the community, by doing trash clean up, delivering Valentine’s to retirement homes and more. Local scouts are looking forward to participating in a local Earth Day event this spring.
“Not only are you helping girls grow, get confident, learn life skills, but you’re helping the community,” McKinney said.
“You’re helping kids and helping your community be a better place. … Trying to see groups be successful.”
The Girl Scout cookie sale is the largest girl-led business in the world, according to the Girl Scout website, raising about $800 million in sales each cookie season.
Boxes are $6, and $1 per box sold is directly poured back into to the troop. A troop at Helmsburg, McKinney said, has sold 1,100 — bringing in that same dollar amount back into the troop.
With that money they could use it for scout trips, supplies, badges, registration or projects.
“It’s something really special and something girls can look at and gain inspiration from,” McKinney said.
She added that it’s important for the community to have Girl Scouts as a resource for young girls.
“As much as we love inclusion, sometimes girls need a different approach,” she said.
One push being made by the Girl Scout Council is to have more girls in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through scouts, troops are able to take subjects that McKinney said some young girls find “boring,” and present them in engaging ways that will want to get girls involved.
Civil life and civil service are of some of the tenets of Girl Scouts, and McKinney said the community is needed to achieve them.
If members of the community have opportunities for learning or serving, McKinney said they can reach out to her.
McKinney was in Girl Scouts all her life, she said, and she once one a silver award, which is one of three major awards in scouting.
It was also one step away from gold, which is much like an Eagle Scout honor, she said.
Her troop did community service projects like improving retirement homes and even organized the placing of a headstone for area orphans who had passed away and were at an unmarked grave, she said.
“Just because you’re a bunch of middle school girls, doesn’t mean just sit there and watch,” she said.
“You can get involved and do something to make a difference.”
Want some cookies?
Local Girl Scouts will be selling cookies at various locations in Brown County through March.
Here’s their schedule:
Brown County IGA, 30 Hawthorne Drive, Fridays, Feb. 10, 17 and 24, March 3 and 10, from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturdays, Feb. 11, 18 and March 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Brownie’s Bean Blossom Family Restaurant, 5730 State Road 135 North, Feb. 24, March 3 and 10, 5 to 7 p.m.
Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls, 146 E. Main St., Feb. 19, 26 and March 26, 9 to noon
Nashville Spice Company, 227 S. Van Buren St., Feb. 25, noon to 3 p.m.
Dates are subject to change. For more information email [email protected].
Learn more
Are you interested in joining Girl Scouts as a leader? Do you know a young lady who would like to participate?
Local Girl Scout troops are willing to take more volunteers and scouts.
Troop 1058, kindergarten through 8th grade, meets at Sprunica Elementary School and Brown County Middle School.
Troop 2278, kindergarten through 3rd grade, meets at Van Buren Elementary School.
Troop 2303, 4th and 5th grades, meets at Van Buren and Helmsburg Elementary Schools.
Troop 2308, kindergarten through 2nd grades, meets at Helmsburg Elementary School.
Find out more by emailing [email protected].
