DELICIOUS SIGN
Girl Scout cookie delivery sure signal spring is near
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> Spring is around the corner and for many people that means their orders for Girl Scout cookies will soon be filled.
Yes, those tasty boxes of Trefoils, Samoas and Thin Mints are coming. Two tractor trailers filled with 60,000 boxes of the cookies were unloaded Friday in Clifton Park.
The delivery, known to the Girl Scouts as the “count and go”, was the first of many that will take place around the Capital Region in the next week for the Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York Council.
With a cold, blustery wind whipping across the North Country Common mall parking lot, cases of Tagalongs were unloaded
from one end of a truck while cases of Savannah Smiles and Samoas were unloaded from the side.
Very quickly the same process began with the second truck, as cases of Thin Mints, Trefoils and Do-si-dos were unloaded. As soon as the cases were stacked, mini-vans and SUVs driven by troop leaders and “cookie moms” came up to collect their orders.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scout cookie program and the 100th year of the Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York Council. Susan Conway is a product service manager for the council and was overseeing the delivery.
“The Girl Scout cookie program is the largest girlled business in the world,” she said. “For 100 years, girls have been funding what they want to do and achieving goals through selling cookies.”
She noted selling the cookies helps the girls develop financial literacy, salesmanship, people skills, goal setting and decision making. Every dollar above the cost of the cookies, she said, stays within the council to support the girls, the troops and the programs that the Girl Scouts run.
“Girl Scouts empower women to do everything, to dream big, set goals, to reach their goals, and selling Girl Scout cookies is just one way they do it,” Conway said. “Every day is a celebration of women with Girl Scouts.”
In the mall parking lot, Amy Williams and Michele Kuhns were rearranging and recounting cases of Tagalongs and Do-si-dos from one of their two vehicles. Kuhns is the troop leader for Girl Scout Troop 2429.
“My troop is one of the largest sellers in the Clifton Park area so we have a lot of cookies,” Kuhns said. “I’ve got 254 cases here and I want to make sure we have the right count for each type of cookie.”
Erin Corrigan was another Girl Scout troop leader who showed up to collect her troop’s cookies. She leads Troop 2529 in Clifton Park. As the cases of cookies were placed in her SUV, Corrigan said the troop has sold 1,443 boxes and has more sales coming online.
“My girls are just little girls,” she said of her troop. “I don’t know how we’re going to deliver them all. It’s a great program. It teaches them about business, meeting people and time management. It’s amazing to think this has been going on for 100 years. ”
Asked if she had been a Girl Scout, Corrigan said she had but remembered little about the sales end of the endeavor.
“I just remember eating them,” she said. “Thin Mints — stick them in the freezer and they last all year.”
Curtis Strife was one of the few cookie dads who drove up to collect an order of cookies. His wife is the troop’s cookie mom. Strife, who works in a hospital, said he has made the cookie pickup five or six times and knew the routine. This year he was only picking up 131 cases of cookies and was sure they would fit in his car.
“It’s multiple weeks of selling,” he said with a chuckle, “a lot of footwork and a lot of mommy and daddy help. But this brand is such a hot commodity. When I announce that I’m taking orders at work for Girl Scout cookies they can’t give you the money fast enough.”
He added that people in general want to support the girls and help them learn things, but are also aware the cookies only come once a year.
“The girls’ goal is to take a trip to Disney World,” he said.
The Girl Scouts, Conway said, are still making and selling the original Girl Scout cookie that started it all, the Trefoil, a shortbread cookie. She added that the organization now has a gluten free cookie, the Toffee-tastic, and for the 100th anniversary is offering another new cookie, a S’mores.
“This is a great way for the community to support Girl Scouts one box at a time,” she said. “It gives girls skills they may never get anywhere else.”