National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend Kicks Off On-Site Cookie “Booth” Sales
To kick off National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend (Feb. 7-9) and on-site cookie “booth” sales, Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana is teaming up with the USO to launch Gift of Caring: Troop to Troop, an initiative to support men and women in the U.S. military by sending them a sweet “taste of home” - Girl Scout Cookies®. Girl Scout troops throughout Chicago and Northwest Indiana are encouraging individuals and businesses to purchase and then donate boxes of Girl Scout Cookies® to the men and women serving in the military. Customers can purchase cookies for the U.S. military troops at $4 per box. The cookies will be distributed directly to the soldiers.
On-site cookie “booth” sales will be available February through April, including “Loop” sites in downtown Chicago on April 15 and 16. Customers are encouraged to visit www.girlscoutcookies.org or download the free Cookie Locator™ mobile application to locate an on-site cookie “booth” nearest to them. To download the app, customers can call **GSCOOKIES (**4722665437) from their mobile phones.
“Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, girls not only learn the basics of goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics, they learn the value of giving back to their communities by deciding how to use their cookie profits to ‘do good’ in their local communities,” explained Jeanne Reynolds, interim CEO, Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
For the second year, girls who elect to incorporate new technology into their plans will have the capability to accept credit cards via their smartphones during the booth sales. Credit card readers are attached to their phones, and girls learn to facilitate transactions and calculate the percentage of the sale to be applied to transaction fees.
Customers have eight varieties of cookies from which to choose: The Savannah Smile, Thank U Berry Munch, Samoas, Thin Mints, Trefoils, Tagalongs, Do-si-does, and Dulce de Leche.
“The Girl Scouts have set an incredible example of giving back to community. For more than a decade, they have provided thousands of cookies and hundreds of volunteer hours to the USO of Illinois in support of service members and their families - not just in the Chicagoland area but throughout Illinois and our Midwest region. They help make every USO Center a 'home away from home' for our military,” said President and CEO Alison Ruble, USO.
One Gift of Caring recipient, “CPT J,” shared the program’s impact.
“Thank you for supporting the troops. We have a communal area at the post office where soldiers are able to share the care packages that have been sent. I grabbed some Girl Scout cookies from a care package, and I wanted to ensure that you knew how much we greatly appreciate the support. Thank you for all that you do. When I see all the appreciation/support I can’t help but recall the generations that served before us. Your support has made our Service to our Nation more meaningful. Again, thank you.”
Background
It started in 1917 as a simple way for a group of Girl Scouts in Oklahoma to finance their local activities. More than 90 years later, hundreds of thousands of girls ages 5-17 engage in what has become one of the nation’s premier financial literacy and entrepreneurship programs.
For generations of girls, the Girl Scout Cookie® Program has fostered a sense of personal and collective empowerment. It gives girls of all ages the opportunity to practice basic skills they will use throughout their lives, including money management and goal-setting. Participation ultimately furthers the Girl Scout Mission which is to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.
Profits from the sale of each $4 box of cookies help the council recruit and train new volunteers; update experienced volunteers; offer council-wide program events and outdoor experiences; maintain council properties; pay for printed materials and postage; provide support for 69,500 girls; and offer financial assistance to girls from economically disadvantages areas. All profits are used locally.
About Girl Scouts
Founded in 1912, Girl Scouts of the USA is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls with 3.2 million girl and adult members worldwide. Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana impacts the lives of more than 69,500 girls and nearly 25,000 adult members in 245 communities in six Illinois counties (Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kankakee, Lake, and Will) and four Indiana counties (Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter). For more information, visit www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org. Customers are encouraged to visit www.girlscoutcookies.org to find cookies available in their areas.