Local Girl Scouts gear up for cookie season
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 14, 2018 3:05 AM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Blair Sarvis, 13, carries cases of Peanut Butter Patties to her parents’ car as they load up Girl Scout Cookies for Troop 576.
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Hayleigh Brubaker, 10, loads boxes of cookies into the back of at truck for her Girl Scout Troop Saturday at First \nPresbyterian Church.\n
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Blair Sarvis, 13, hands a couple boxes of Peanut Butter Patties to her father, Michael,Saturday morning at First \nPresbyterian Church.\n
Let the New Year's weight-loss resolutions crumble -- the Girl Scouts cookie sale is underway through March 4.
It is a Girl Scout tradition that dates back 101 years.
Local troops in the North Carolina Coastal Pines Council picked up thousands of boxes of cookies Saturday morning from First Presbyterian Church.
Amanda Sarvis, a leader with Troop 576 of the Fremont/Pikeville area, picked up 1,812 boxes.
She expects they will be sold by the end of the week, and she will order more.
The troop averages selling more than 5,000 boxes.
"My troop was smaller last year so I expect to sell more this year," she said. "My goal is always to do more than we did the year before. We can order every Sunday. This week we will not order on Sunday, but starting next Sunday we will. We order every week as to what we need.
"Cookies sell themselves. People love Girl Scout cookies. People come looking (for) us. They will ride and look (for) us. We have online sales, which is set up for our families that are away from us if they want to order from one particular child. So they can go online and do the digital cookie sale."
Cookie sales teach the girls how to manage money and how to approach and speak to people, Sarvis said.
"It teaches them that if they want something, they are going to have to work for it -- it is not just given to them," she said.
Of the 5,000 boxes, about 1,000 will be sold by her daughter, Blair, 13.
"My goal every year is to hit 1,000," Blair said.
Blair is a pro when it comes to cookie sales -- she has been doing it for seven years and has a well-established customer base. She even has people calling her well before the sale starts, wanting to know when the cookies will be available.
It is not difficult to sell the cookies, she said.
"I think it is kind of easy because they are just so lovable," she said. "Everybody loves them. I have all of my church people. I go to a big church, so I get a lot of cookies from there. I go to my dad's bowling alley, and I sell really good there.
"I like talking to people, and I like learning about how to manage my money. I like to sell. It is just fun to do it every day."
There are no new cookie flavors this year.
"Last year they came out with the Girl Scout S'mores -- like the s'mores you roast around a campfire -- as part of our 100-year-celebration," said Lilly Thompson, area cookie chairman and Wayne County service unit manager.
"There are Lemonade, Caramel deLites, Thin Mints, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Peanut Butter Patties and gluten- free Trios."
Cookies are $4 per box.
Blair said that the Thin Mints, Caramel deLites and Peanut Butter Patties are her top sellers.
Her favorite are the Girl Scout S'mores.
"The first week of our sale, our council is trying hard to get the girls back out so that people can see them," Thompson said. "The first week we have what's called the 'walkabout' where they get a badge for getting out there selling door to door.
"There will be a few booths, but they will just be the small places. Then, Jan. 27, we will be out in full force at the Walmarts, Sam's and places that will allow you to have booths. We are still trying to recruit places to have booths."
Approximately 300 local Girl Scouts will be selling the cookies, and all of the money raised remains in the area.
"The girls are encouraged to set goals, and they get a portion of the money to their troop," Thompson said. "We can get as much as 63 cents back, but the average troop probably gets 55 cents or 58 cents per box of cookies. The troops decide what they want to do (with the proceeds).
"I have four Girl Scout troops. One of my troops went to New York last year for five days, and another troop went to Washington, D.C., for four days. We had other troops that went to Savannah, Georgia. Some girls went camping. It was their first troop-camping experience."
Blair said her troop used the money for a lot of small trips, including to water parks, the bowling alley, an aquarium and zoo.
"We went for ice cream day, so we all went for ice cream," she said.
The sale provides more than sweet treats for cookie fans -- it provides lesson in life for the girls, Thompson said.
"We work on five skills," Thompson said. "They work on management. They learn how to count money. They know how to handle money. They know how to budget money. That is part of life. If you don't budget your household money, you are always behind the eight ball.
"They learn how to make decisions. In setting goals they know what they are working toward. They learn business ethics. They learn how to accept the word 'no' or accept the fact that you are totally ignored when they ask a person if they would like to buy some cookies."
Thompson said she tells her girls that when they become adults and have money, they will know what not to do because they know the things that bothered them when they were selling cookies.
Just as importantly, they learn how to relate to other people both young and old, she said.
Visit www.nccoastalpines.org for more information about the drive and to find locations where the cookies are being sold.