Whatcom County Girl Scouts and Their Famous Cookies
by Theresa Carpine3/12/2008 11:03:02 AM
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If you’ve visited a Haggen, Starbucks, or even Best Buy over the past two weekends, you’re probably aware that the annual Girl Scout Cookie Sale is on across Whatcom County and the rest of the country. But you might not know that the Cookie Sale coincides with the anniversary of this organization for American girls, or that the second week of March is celebrated as National Girl Scout Week.
The first Girl Scout meeting took place in Savannah, Georgia on March 12, 1912, organized by Juliette “Daisy” Gordon. Daisy’s vision of getting girls to interact with their community through service and their environment through hiking and nature studies remains strong today, with membership of nearly four million and over 50 million alumnae.
Girl Scouts sell cookies to help finance special troop activities.
The Whatcom County chapter of Girl Scouts was founded in 1929, with currently 50 troops in our area. Girl Scouts is open to all school-age (Kindergarten through 12th grade) girls who live in the United States (and American girls living abroad). There are even opportunities for adults to join, if they are interested in mentoring, troop leading or lending other talents to support local troops.
The history of the Girl Scout Cookie Sale goes back all the way to 1917, with girl scouts and their mothers baking the cookies in their very own kitchens (visit Girl Scout Cookies® History to find an early cookie recipe). The profits went to help finance troop activities and, over 90 years later, the Cookie Sale still plays an important role in funding unique opportunities for scouts.
Whatcom County Girl Scouts’ Regional Director Carole Osier explained that 66% of our council's annual budget is supported by the Cookie Sale, which ends this year on Sunday, March 16th. The money also goes to help finance special troop activities that the girls themselves pick. “They’ll decide on something together, like camping or horseback riding or a trip to the water slides,” she said. “Then they figure out how much it will cost and determine how many cookies they need to sell to reach the goal.”
The Girl Scouts also offer an alternative program, for people who want to support the scouts but aren’t interested in eating the cookies themselves. Well, maybe they’re interested, but they know they shouldn’t.
“At every table, we have a box for Operation Cookie Drop. The person can buy the cookies and put them in the box, and we’ll send them to service men and women that are stationed around the world,” Carole explained. “Sometimes we’ll get a note back from someone who received a box of Thin Mints and they’ll say how it made them feel like they were back home for a minute.”
So if the Cookie Sale only last two weeks, what do the Girls Scouts do to keep busy for the other fifty weeks in the year? Plenty. “Every first Friday of the month, we have a 'Girls Night Out' gathering at a local elementary school,” Carole said. Along with Scouts, the meeting is open to all girls and parents who might be interesting in learning more about scouting.
All the revenue from the cookie sale goes to local councils and troops.
They also participate with other groups in our community, like the Earth Day Service Project organized by the Bellingham Parks Volunteer Program and NSEA, and organize service projects themselves, like honoring veterans on Memorial Day. And while all Girl Scouts activities emphasize building courage, confidence and character, they have plenty of fun too. This past weekend, they had an ice skating Birthday Party to celebrate the Girl Scouts 96th anniversary.
The Girl Scouts also offer day camps and summer camps to keep girls busy and involved in their community. It’s a great organization that reminds girls (both young and old) to always be exploring, learning, and helping one another when we can.
If you’re interested in getting your daughter connected with Whatcom County Girl Scouts, call Carole Osier at (360) 676-2570 or you can visit Girl Scouts of Western Washington to get more information.