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Girl Scout cookies come to town
By Connie Beard
Published January 9, 2010
Girl Scout Cookies are rolling off the assembly line and orders are now being taken by local Girl Scouts.
Thank U Berry Much is the newest creation added to the Girl Scout Cookie lineup for 2010. The cookie is filled with real cranberries and creamy white fudge chips. It joins the list of traditional cookies — Do-Si-Dos, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Dulce de Leche, Lemon Chalet Cremes and the world-famous Thin Mints.
The annual sales program kicked off Friday and will continue through the end of March. Cookies from Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas sell for $3.50 per box. Orders are now being taken, and the girls will begin delivering orders the middle of February. Booth sales will begin after Feb. 26.
Troop leaders have been helping the girls set goals for their troops and themselves and to learn the skills they will need to sell the cookies.
“We helped the girls understand how to fill out order cards, tell people about the Troop to Troop program and how to tell customers about how they can contribute to the gift of caring program,” said Georgia Weddle, leader of Troop 99, a Brownie Troop located in Blossom.
The gift of caring program provides boxes of cookies to nursing and assisted living homes in the area. The girls deliver the donated boxes as part of their community service program.
“The younger ones are just learning how to do things like that. This program helps them learn to connect with other people,” Weddle said.
What began as a bake sale has turned into a leadership program. The earliest written mention of the Girls Scout Cookie Program was of the Mistletoe Girl Scout Troop in Muskogee, Okla., which baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a Girl Scout service project in December 1917. The first commercially baked Girl Scout cookies were in Philadelphia in 1934, and the first commercial baker was licensed by the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1966.
The local Girl Scout Troops sold more than 22,900 boxes of cookies in 2009, and with more girls in the ranks this year, Weddle expects another good year of sales.
A portion of the money earned from the Cookie Sale is used by the local troops. Some girls receive Girl Scout T-shirts or receive a Girl Scout handbook they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford, Weddle said.
The program provides the opportunity for girls to learn life and business skills such as goal setting, public speaking, teamwork, brand awareness, responsibility, money and time management, financial literacy and grass roots entrepreneurship.
Girl Scout troops follow a plan toward their set goals. Troops use funds from the program to fund service projects, educational field trips and other leadership activities.
Troop 99 attended the Christmas play put on by Paris Community Theater in 2009 and plans a trip this year to see the ballet at Bass Hall in Fort Worth if enough money is raised.
“The troops end up with a nice pile of money to spend on the girls for trips or even pizza parties,” Weddle said.
The Girl Scout Cookie Program also promotes community service. Project Troop to Troop is a Girl Scout service that encourages members of the community to buy packages of Girl Scout Cookies to donate to the U.S. Armed Forces.
In 2009, Project Troop to Troop generated more than 127,000 packages, which were transported to Fort Hood, the USO, the American Red Cross and ultimately to service men and women at home and abroad. Girl Scout Cookies also reach local veterans organizations and wounded soldiers.
The first Girl Scout Troop in Paris was formed in 1920 with six girls and was chartered by the GSUSA in 1921. Troops in the Paris area are now part of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, which encompasses 32 counties that extend approximately 60 miles to the south of Dallas, north to the Oklahoma border and east to the Arkansas and Louisiana borders. Combined membership in the area is approximately 42,000 girls with 15,000 adult members and 90 staff members. The area has six camp facilities, including Camp Gambill north of Paris, and seven owned or leased service centers.
The Paris Service Center is located at 3920 Lamar Ave., in the Petco Plaza. The phone number is 903-784-0803.
For information on how to buy Girl Scout Cookies, visit www.texascookietime.com and click on the cookie locator icon.
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