Gearing Up for the 2014 Girl Scout Cookie Season

What do goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics have in common? They are aspects essential to leadership, to success, and to life, and they are acquired through participation in the Girl Scout Cookie Program!

Cadettes unload cookies

One-hundred percent of the money girls raise through the Girl Scout Cookie Program – every penny after paying the baker – stays with the council and troops. Girl Scout cookie sales fund programs, camps, and activities for Alaska's girls. Along the way, girls discover fun and friendship and acquire the values that will guide them along life’s path.

“The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the largest girl financial literacy program in the world,” GSAK CEO Sue Perles said. “One of the most important lessons you can teach a girl is how to set a challenging goal and reach it. The cookie program allows girls to set two kinds of group goals: What can we do with our cookie money to help others, and what can we do with our cookie money for fun and learning? Girls also set personal-learning goals, such as money-management skills or business ethics. Nationwide, an incredible 80 percent of women business owners were Girl Scouts. Our alumnae are living proof that what we teach girls today impacts them tomorrow."     

Girls earn recognition items and cookie credits, which can be applied toward a girl's camp registration fee. What’s more, the Girl Scout Cookie Program benefits girls across the council by:

• Keeping Girl Scouting affordable for all girls;
• Subsidizing the registration cost of GSAK camps;
• Supporting girl programming, curriculum, and events; and
• Providing grants to girls and troops experiencing financial barriers. 

Girl Scout Cookies are an icon of American culture. For nearly 100 years, Girl Scouts, with the enthusiastic support of their families, have helped ensure the success of the annual sale. From its earliest beginnings to its current popularity, selling Girl Scout Cookies has helped girls have fun, develop valuable life skills, and make their communities a better place. It’s a time-honored program that works!

If you want to know more about cookies, ask a Girl Scout - she would love to give you the scoop!

Barbara Knaak serves as the Chugiak/Eagle River Service Unit cookie manager. She also leads a Cadette troop. Barbara initially got involved with the Girl Scout Cookie Program four years ago because there was a need, but she has stayed involved “because the rewards are awesome. My daughter, who’s now in eighth grade, sold nearly 250 boxes of cookies last year so she was able to go to camp. Our troop used the money to attend Encampment. When the girls earn the money themselves and then figure out what to do with it, it empowers them and boosts their confidence.”

Barbara’s daughter, Janna, has Prader-Willi syndrome, which causes developmental and cognitive delays. “Selling cookies is really good for her,” Barbara said. “I don’t even take the order form to work – she calls my friends and co-workers herself. She has to tally up the total boxes of cookies, figure out who’s paid and who still owes her money. Janna will sit there all day selling cookies. It puts her out there. I’ve seen it with the other girls too – once they find their groove, they excel.”   

2014 booth sales will run Feb. 28-April 6 in select communities 

2013 Cookie Facts

• 2,725 girls in our council sold Girl Scout cookies
• Girls in our council sold more than 500,000 boxes of cookies
• Last year’s top-selling individual was an Anchorage girl who sold 3,138 boxes of cookies
• Last year’s top-selling troop was a Mat-Su troop that sold 12,725 boxes of cookies

This year we are selling the “Super Six” cookie varieties: Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, and Savannah Smiles. Thin Mints are the top-selling Girl Scout cookie in America, while Samoas are the top-seller in Alaska.