Living
Girl Scouts kick off 100th year with cookie sales
Tuesday, 07 February 2012 by Justin Cox
Members of Central Texas Girl Scout Troop 8121 began opening booths in Belton on Saturday, part of the launch of the annual push to sell girl scout cookies in Central Texas. This year marks the 100th anniversary since the cookie sales program began.Once again the armies of little girls in khaki and green-patched vests have descended upon the Central Texas community bringing boxes of goodies that few can resist.
2012 marks the 100th year of Girl Scout Cookies, and your chance to get your hands on a box - or two or three or four – has arrived so that you may quench your craving.
This past weekend marked the opening period in which members of Girl Scouts of Central Texas may start selling at booths outside community businesses.
In Belton, that meant setting up a booth outside the entranceways of Walmart.
There, a cadre of half a dozen girl scouts took turns promoting their products, interacting with customers and showing signs to store patrons as they came and went.
Bailey Bricker, 10, is in her second year as a member of Troop 8121. She and her new friends connected via the Girl Scout program, and has allowed some new to the community to make friends quickly and integrate into the area. That is the case for 13-year-old Elizabeth Davis, who recently moved to the area with her family after they were stationed in North Carolina.
"We get to make friends and have a lot of fun," Bailey said, in between calls out to the parking lot holding signs alongside her friend, Taylor Ruddell, 10.
The pair became friends through the program after Taylor joined up to follow in the footsteps of her older sister.
The girls will be selling cookies throughout the area until the end of February.
Troop 8121 Co-Leader Wendy Bricker joined several other parents in facilitating the booth operation while standing back and letting the girls handle most of the transactions themselves.
Girls Scouts around Central Texas will be selling their delicious cookies for 38 days.Bricker volunteered to hold all the cookie inventory for the entire troop in her home when the shipment of 500 cases of cookies arrived; the first shipment, that is, which is virtually gone after only the first week. That's about 600 boxes of cookies and in the neighborhood of 48,000 total cookies packaged inside.
Still, it's a task she does gladly, Bricker said, because of the numerous benefits the program brings for her daughter Bailey.
To celebrate the organization's 100 years of cookies, they are offering a commemorative cookie box introduced to honor the Centennial year for Girl Scouts, which will last through Feb. 24.
"As we approach the second century of Girl Scouting, we will continue to give every girl the opportunity to be the leader she wants to be and to be the leader the world needs her to be," says Etta Moore, chief executive officer for Girl Scouts of Central Texas.
"The Girl Scout Cookie Program does just that, supplying girls with important leadership skills that will provide a lifelong foundation for success."
While cookies are only on sale for 38 days, local girl scouts reap the benefits all year long.
A Girl Scout cookie sales could help girls pay for camp, purchase uniforms and badges, or fly a troop to a destination of their choice.
