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Cookies arrive
Distribution begins for Girl Scout snacks
Friday, Feb. 12, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
Diane Wilchinski of North Beach loads 93 cases of Girl Scout cookies Thursday in the back of her truck. Her daughter Nora, 7, is a Brownie in Troop 4345.
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Luckily for local Girl Scout troops and Girl Scout cookie aficionados, the cookies arrived last week before the first round of snow.
Truckloads of cookies were delivered to Prince Frederick's K-Mart parking lot before 9 a.m. last Thursday, and like a well-tuned military operation, a line of vehicles drove around in a square, stopping to check in, load up cases of cookies and check out with a record number of cookies in the "cookie drive thru." Mostly vans, SUVs and trucks parked in the lot and waited their turn to line up and load up with the whole process taking about five hours.
"We've had a great sale this year so far. Our initial order was for 6,868 cases ... that means 82,416 boxes of cookies," for the 91 troops in Calvert, wrote Sheryl Fischer, associate cookie manager for Calvert County.
With the presold amount, which was more than last year's entire order, Calvert troops will receive $49,500 and the council receives a bit more than a dollar per box, Fischer said.
The money goes toward camp maintenance and equipment like canoes and kayaks, buses for excursions to museums and aquariums and also for scholarships, Fischer said.
Girls who can't afford to be in Girl Scouts "don't get turned away," with scholarships helping with cost, she said.
"All the money comes from cookie money," Fischer said.
Liz Prouty, a service unit cookie manager who helped organize the cookie dropoff, said she helps 23 troops during cookie time, training troop leaders.
Prouty, who has been a Huntingtown troop leader for six years, said selling cookies is an educational experience for the girls, teaching them business skills.
"In high school they really understand the nuts and bolts of how to market a successful business," Prouty said. The girls are given more responsibilities each year and learn how to organize and lead events, set goals and decide how to earn and spend money.
Kim Allen, Owings troop 1017 leader, said her troop, which includes 15 fourth graders from Mt. Harmony Elementary School, has been top seller over the years, selling 2,800 boxes last year. The favorite cookie "must be Thin Mints, Samoas a close second" said Allen, who is also cookie booth sales coordinator for her service area.
Lusby Troop 5519 leader Winnie Niemi, who was helping load cases of Do-Si-dos and Samoas into vehicles, said her cadet girls like to call themselves "chipmunks."
"I'll be putting 18 cases in my car," she said. The cookies used to be unloaded at the Prince Frederick Firehouse three years ago, but Niemi said, "This is way easier. This is the best way to unload."
Carrie Brewton, service unit cookie manager who checked out vehicles in the cookie dropoff, said, "We're trying to make it as smooth as possible."
In 1922, the Girl Scout magazine The American Girl suggested cookie sales as a fundraiser and provided recipes. In 1933, Girl Scouts in Philadelphia organized the first official sale, selling homemade cookies at the windows of local utility companies. The first Girl Scout cookie recipe was a sugar cookie, according to the Girl Scouts Web site.
Top selling cookies
Today, customers have eight choices with a new one this year, Thank You Berry Munch, a cranberry shortbread cookie with white fudge chips.
Brewton, also a leader for Brownie troop 6354 that meets at The Church by the Chesapeake on Broomes Island Road, wrote in an e-mail, "Our troop's best selling cookie is the Thin Mints, we sold 304 boxes of Thin Mints during our initial order period, and the Samoas came in 2nd place with us selling 286 boxes."
Lusby Junior Troop 6692 leader Carla Dudley said her troop was part of a survey called "Vote for your favorite cookie" at Annmarie Gardens' Halloween in the Garden last fall. In that survey, Samoas took the lead with 509 votes; Thin Mints trailed with 443 votes.
According to the Girl Scouts of America, in 2005, the most popular cookie was Thin Mints with 25 percent of sales, followed by Samoa with 19 percent and Tagalongs with 13 percent and Calvert's council, the Council of the Nation's Capital, depicts similar favorites on its Web site with Thin Mints leading the way at 27 percent followed by Samoas with 23 percent and Tagalongs with 19 percent.
At last Thursday's cookie drop there was one truck with nothing but Thin Mints, another full of Samoas, wrote Nadine Happell, field director for Calvert County for Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital.
Allen said she thinks the cookies sell well because "they are so unique" and people know that the money goes to a good cause. Her troop, like many others, has done some community service with cookie sales proceeds. "We look forward to cookie season every year."
Calvert's favorite cookie
Calvert Girl Scouts surveyed participants of Annemarie Gardens' Halloween in the Garden last fall, asking them to "Vote for your favorite cookie."
Results:
Samoas: 509
Thin Mints: 443
Tagalongs: 238
Do-si-dos: 128
Trefoils: 93
Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital ranking of favorite cookie from Web site
Thin Mints: 27 percent
Samoas: 23 percent
Tagalongs: 19 percent
Dulce de Leche: 12 percent
Lemon Chalet Cremes: 8 percent
Trefoils: 5 percent
Thank You Berry Munch: 2 percent
Do-Si-Dos: 2 percent
