A round, mint-flavored cookie is coated in chocolate.
Another cookie combines coconut and caramel. Two other cookies are for peanut butter lovers.
There also are simple shortbread cookies, some that are lemon-flavored and a new one that is all about raisins.
Whether you prefer Thin Mints, Samoas, Do-si-dos, Tagalongs, Trefoils or Savannah Smiles, or you want to try the new Rah-Rah Raisins, it’s that time of year to buy Girl Scout cookies.
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Seymour-based Troop 1239 recently received its shipment of nearly 12,000 boxes of cookies from the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana warehouse. About 6,800 of those boxes were presold by the troop’s 16 girls, while the rest will be available for purchase from booths set up outside local stores, starting today.
“Hopefully, we’ll end up having to go get more,” Missy Casner said with a smile.
Setting goals
Casner, who is the troop’s leader and chairwoman of cookie sales, said proceeds from cookie sales go toward membership fees, a community service project and a fun activity for the troop to do together.
“It’s one of the biggest businesses for girls to do because they are selling, they are setting goals,” Casner said of cookie sales. “They are learning that stuff isn’t free and that if you work hard and try to get as much stuff as possible, they can set goals and make it. It’s setting the goal and seeing it accomplished.”
Terri Tock, volunteer services specialist with Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana, said goal setting is one of five important life skills the girls learn. The others are decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics.
“It’s one of the largest business training grounds for women-owned businesses because a lot of women who do go into business and become super entrepreneurs got their start selling Girl Scout cookies,” Tock said.
Community-minded
While Girl Scouts is known for cookies, camping and crafts, Tock said they prefer to be recognized by three other Cs — courage, confidence and character.
“We are building girls of strong character,” she said. “It takes courage the first time to go up to somebody and say, ‘Would you like to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies?’ And of course, they get self-confidence.”
Since becoming troop leader three years ago, Casner has had the girls choose their community service project. In the past, they bought supplies for their school classrooms and made care bags for Riley Hospital for Children.
This year, they are making care bags for Don and Dana Myers Cancer Center patients. Those will include a box of Girl Scout cookies along with puzzle books, nail files and other items.
They also do service projects other times of the year. Collecting items for a homeless shelter, making dog and cat beds and designing Valentine’s cards for senior citizens and playing bingo with them are among past projects.
“My girls, they want to help all the time. They really like helping animals and people,” Casner said. “A lot of times, people call on us, and my girls jump on doing that. I think it’s a lost gift that people don’t do anymore, so we really kind of relish being able to pair up with different places here in town to be able to do that.”
For this year’s fun activity, the girls chose to invite Jennings County Scouts to a roller-skating party. Parents will supply food and pay for skating rink rental, and the only cost for the girls, if they don’t have their own skates, is $2 for skate rental.
“They like the fact that they are getting to do something fun, but they are also sharing their profits with somebody else, too,” Casner said.
Gaining skills
While Casner is the troop leader, she said she likes giving the girls a chance to provide input on activities throughout the year. Fifteen of the girls are Brownies (second and third grades), while one is a Daisy (kindergarten and first grade).
“It’s teaching them to be leaders, teaching them they can be in charge and empowered to do those kind of things,” Casner said. “At this level, it’s probably 60 percent me doing leading kind of things and 40 percent them choosing what to do. As they get older, it’s going to switch.”
When they become Juniors (fourth and fifth grades), it will be more 50-50, Casner said. Then as they move on to Cadets (sixth through eighth grades), Seniors (ninth and 10th grades) and Ambassadors (11th and 12th grades), they will be the leaders. Beyond high school, they could decide to be a troop leader.
The presentations related to the Girl Scout laws and promise that Casner’s girls are doing helps them be leaders.
“Getting out in front of the girls and parents and learning and being in a safe environment presenting, those girls are going to do better when they have to do something like that in school, as well,” she said.
The girls aren’t pressured because they aren’t graded on the presentations, Tock added.
“It’s a safe place to do those things in that environment, and that’s why a lot of times our troop leaders are the ones that girls can confide in because it’s a trusting adult that they can work with,” she said.
Troop 1239 is one of five troops in Jackson County, consisting of about 50 girls and adult volunteers. Three other troops meet in Seymour, while one meets in Crothersville.
During those meetings, girls work on earning badges, participate in fun activities and discuss upcoming projects or events.
Raising funds
Cookie sales is their main fundraiser, but they also have one in the fall where they sell nuts, candies, magazines and other items.
Casner’s 8-year-old daughter, Macy, has been in Girl Scouts for three years. Macy said she likes earning patches and doing things with her fellow troop members, especially cookie sales.
“My favorite thing on the booth sales is all of the Girl Scouts selling together,” Macy said. “It’s good for the new people that are starting to learn. We like to teach them what we do.”
Berfilia Tovar, 8, is new to Troop 1239. After her previous troop disbanded, she still wanted to stay involved with Girl Scouts.
“I thought Girl Scouts was really fun, and I like learning,” Berfilia said.
From March 8 to 14, the local troops will participate in Girl Scout Week activities. That is conducted each year around March 12, which is the date Girl Scouts was established in 1912.
Casner said the girls will be honored each day, and their activities include cookies and milk with local school principals and leading the pledge at school.
“Last year, my girls absolutely loved it, and a lot of the principals wrote back and said, ‘We look forward to doing it again,’” Casner said. “I’m excited about that.”
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Here’s when and where you can buy Girl Scout cookies from Troop 1239 in Seymour:
Today: Walmart, 1600 E. Tipton St., 4 to 7 p.m.
Saturday: Walmart, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Regal Seymour Stadium 8, 357 Tanger Blvd., 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m.
Sunday: Walmart, noon to 6 p.m.
Feb. 27: Walmart, 4 to 7 p.m.
Feb. 28: JCPenney, 1224 E. Tipton St., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Walmart, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
March 1: Shoe Sensation, 1210 E. Tipton St., 2 to 4 p.m.; Walmart, noon to 3 p.m.
March 7: Walmart, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
March 8: Shoe Sensation, 2 to 4 p.m.
March 14: Walmart, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Shoe Sensation, 4 to 7 p.m.
March 15: Walmart, noon to 6 p.m.
The Girl Scout Cookie Finder app can be downloaded for free on an iOS or Android phone or mobile device. Once that is downloaded, click the “Find Cookies Now” button to learn about opportunities to purchase Girl Scout cookies.
Information also can be found online at girlscouts.org.
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