Girl Scouts pick up cookies

Friday, March 1, 2013

Courtesy photo
Karen Urbanik, left, of Amherst, organizes the Girl Scout Cookie pickup on Feb. 16.

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AMHERST – The garage bay of Able Moving and Storage off Route 101A was the scene of the annual Girl Scout Cookie delivery and pickup Feb. 16. Girl Scout volunteers and parents representing dozens of local troops pick up each troop’s cookie order for delivery to customers.

Running the carefully choreographed show, as she has for the past 20 years, was Girl Scout Community Cookie Coordinator, Karen Urbanik of Amherst.

“This was the first time we’ve had snow,” Urbanik said, as she and her team helped load cases into minivans and SUVs.

Anywhere from 100-150 cases (with 12 cookie packages in a case) fit in a minivan or SUV. Troop leaders and other Girl Scout volunteers pulled into the garage to pick up the carefully set-aside stacks of cases of each variety that they pre-ordered.

After delivering and accepting payment for their initial orders, Girl Scouts will also sell cookies Girl Scout Cookie booths across the Council. To find a cookie sale near you, go to www.girlscoutsgwm.org and click on the Cookie Locator http://cookie
locator.littlebrownie.com. This is also a downloadable phone app: text **GSCOOKIES, or call the Cookie Hotline 1-888-474-9686, ext. 201.

The Girl Scout Cookie program is the nation’s pre-eminent financial literacy program for girls, teaching them five essential skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. All of the proceeds from the sale remain locally to support Girl Scout programming, troops, volunteer training and camps. There are eight varieties of cookies and they sell for $4 a box.

Last year, Girl Scouts in New Hampshire and Vermont sold 1,564,376 boxes of cookies. Through Operation Cookie, 12,000 boxes were donated to U.S. armed forces worldwide.

The Girl Scout Cookie program has been developing young entrepreneurs for generations, since 1919. Today, the most famous financial literacy program for girls in the world is a $790 million business, run by girls. All proceeds stay within the local Council to support programs, camps and Girl Scout troops.

Girls who sell more than 100 boxes earn “Cookie Dough,” which they can use for camp and for other Girl Scout experiences. Girls grow in confidence as they run their troop business, and have fun. Eighty-two percent of high-achieving Girl Scout alumna say Girl Scouting contributed to their success as adults.

Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves 15,600 girls across New Hampshire and Vermont, thanks to 5,300 volunteers. For more information, visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org or call the hotline phone