Connecticut Girl Scouts Launch Entrepreneurial Cookie Sales for 2022
/If a Girl Scout in your family or your neighborhood reaches out to sell cookies this year, the benefits go well beyond the tradition and the delicious array of cookies.
The girl-led entrepreneurship program helps to develops the next generation of female business leaders, according to officials of the Girl Scouts of Connecticut. The five fundamentals of the cookie program are goal setting, decision making, business ethics, people skills and money management.
Girls learn to work as a team to accomplish goals while building confidence in their individual abilities. All proceeds from Girl Scout Cookie sales stay local to help fund life-changing, girl-led programs, experiences, and learning all year long.
Girl Scouts of Connecticut is more than 23,000 members strong –over 14,000 girls and over 8,000 adults – who believe that every girl can change the world. There are Girl Scout troops in the majority of communities across the state.
Girl Scouts in grades K–12 participate in the Girl Scout Cookie program, in a variety of ways including online sales through customized Digital Cookie storefronts. Digital Cookie is a way for girls to reach out to customers during a time of social distancing to ask for support.
“It’s not surprising that 80% of female entrepreneurs were once Girl Scouts.” said Diana Mahoney, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of Connecticut (GSOFCT). “Having the opportunity to run their very own cookie business gives them essential tools to achieve their dreams today and in the future.”
Mahoney notes that some troops sell cookies to raise funds for amazing troop activities and trips or enjoy an outdoor adventure at state Girl Scout camps - An-Se-Ox in Oxford, Aspetuck in Weston, Clatter Valley in New Milford, Laurel in Lebanon and Merrie-Wood in Manchester. Other girls aim to earn badges and rewards or launch community service projects.
This season, Girl Scouts are again selling cookies in creative, socially distant, and contact-free ways to keep themselves and their customers safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pre-ordering phase of Girl Scout cookies began in early January, exclusively online. When cookies arrive the first week of March, individual troops will then set up sales booths at retail and grocery store venues within each town.
Be on the lookout for Adventurefuls, this year’s new decadent brownie-inspired cookie with caramel-flavored crème and a hint of sea salt. Adventurefuls joins iconic favorites such as Thin Mints®, Samoas®, Tagalongs®, Do-si-dos®, Trefoils®, Lemon-Ups®, Girl Scout S’mores® and gluten-free Toffee-tastic®.Also debuting this year are new Cookie Business badges that girls can earn by gaining important online and offline business skills that set them up for success in life.
Don’t want to indulge in cookies but still want to support Girl Scouts? Many troops and booths offer customers the opportunity to support Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s Gift of Caring program, Cookies for Heroes, which notes that cookies are a wonderful way to say “thank you” to our service women and men who serve overseas and at home.
To purchase Girl Scout Cookies this season:
If you know a registered Girl Scout, reach out to her to find out how she’s selling cookies in ways that meet local, state, and CDC safety protocols, including via the Digital Cookie online platform.
If you don’t know a Girl Scout, visit gsofct.org or contact Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s Customer Care Team to find cookies in your area at (800) 922-2770.
“When you buy the delicious cookies you crave directly from a Girl Scout, you’ll enjoy them more knowing you’re helping her gain the business smarts and confidence to take on the world, one cookie at a time,” concludes Mahoney.
Visit www.gsofct.org to discover Girl Scout Cookie sales in your community, all across Connecticut and beyond.
