REDLANDS, CA —Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio reopened their cookie sale for the month of May. When the annual sale ended in late March, for the first time in recent memory the Girl Scouts still had thousands of cases of unsold cookies in their warehouse. Unlike past years, girls were restricted from having direct contact with their customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That meant, among other challenges, they were unable to have cookie booths at local stores until the last two weeks of the sale. The girls created brilliant outreach campaigns using social media and online direct sales, but with all the restrictions they struggled to meet their goals and achieve the troop proceeds and personal rewards of the past.
San Gorgonio’s experience is being repeated in the other 110 councils throughout the country. In past years our Council has led the country in average number of boxes sold per girl and by that measure our girls continue to be sales leaders, but fewer than half the number of girls were available to sell than in previous years. It’s critical that Girl Scouts sell the remaining cookies, to ensure that girl programming and experiences remain available to the Girl Scouts throughout this difficult year.
The cookie program teaches girls the importance of money management, decision-making, people skills, goal setting, and business ethics. Cookie proceeds fund domestic and international travel, technology, education, and programmatic needs. Through the I Care program, girls support women’s shelters, military service people, fire and rescue agencies, local food banks and other community organizations. Every dollar not used to pay the baker directly benefits the girl and her community.
How to Support your Local Girl Scout
Visit a cookie booth at Stater Bros. grocers, GNC stores and other booth locations and buy as many boxes as you can or pre-order and pre-pay for local pickup. Just go to the Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio website at www.gssgc.org and click on the COOKIES ARE BACK banner.
Here’s a tip: “If you can’t eat them, treat them!” Designate your cookie purchase for the I Care program and the boxes you buy will be donated to members of the military, first responders, food banks and local social service agencies—even some schools.
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We’re Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio
We serve more than 10,000 girls in Riverside and San Bernardino counties with the dedicated support of 3,000 adult volunteers. Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council champions girl ambition and offer girls the unique opportunity to identify and support issues that are important to them, form partnerships with other people, businesses, and organizations and create sustainable projects that change the world around them. To volunteer, reconnect, donate, or join, visit gssgc.org.
