Girl Scout Cookies sold in Erie County send troops to camp and beyond. Where can you buy some?
Think about this for a second: The Girl Scouts in Erie County just got in their cookie orders for specific friends and family who signed the little chart. They were delivered to the Scouts Saturday, in weather that can only be described as frigid, at 21 degrees with a 10-degree wind chill.
But the J.H. Bennett warehouse is still chock full of cookies intended for booth sales, said Lisa Shade, vice president, brand marketing and product program.
"We have 2 million cookies to move," Shade said, as snowflakes pelted her hat and hair, and a reporter's pen kept freezing.
Yes, that's 2 million cookies for the 27 counties that are part of the Western Pennsylvania council. That's a lot of Thin Mints. And Samoas and Tagalongs, Trefoils, etc. Once the pre-orders are delivered, more pallets of annual treats will be sold at booths around town to those who failed to find a Girl Scout from whom to pre-order them.
Most troops use their money to pay for Girl Scout camp in the spring and fall. One special troop, though, which includes eight girls who are older than typical Scouts, are planning a 10-day trip to Europe in 2025. Cookies, which cost $6 a box this year, can't pay for all of that, but they're a major part of the fundraising process, according to Kristen Eliason, who leads the travel troop.
"Everything equates to cookies to me," Eliason said. "This year so far we've sold 150 cases of 12 boxes each."
She tried to do the math in her head to explain how many cookies they'd need to sell to pay for the trip, but failed and shook her head. "It's a lot," she said with a laugh.
She said she created the travel troop to keep the older girls interested in Scouting, at an age where many of them get involved in junior high and high school activities and typically leave.
"We're trying to get back on a schedule of traveling every two years," Eliason said. "But with the pandemic, we had to skip a year, so the girls haven't traveled since 2022."
She said the trips inspire significant growth in the older girls.
"We had a girl in 2022 who had never traveled out of the country, and never without her family," Eliason said. "When someone asked if she was having a good time she started to cry with happiness.
"The trip gave her such confidence," the troop leader said.
She said the troop will also be learning to make pierogis and sell those this year as well to help pay for the trip.
She said in 2022, they traveled to Switzerland to the international center for Girl Scouts worldwide.
"Some of them made friends (with other Scouts) there and they've become lifelong friends," she said.
Booth sales
To replenish your supply of Girl Scout Cookies, whether you just ran out or have decided you want some this year after all, visit girlscoutcookies.org to enter your zip code and locate a booth near you. You can also order cookies to have delivered to your door from the same website.
2023 cookie sales
Numbers from the 2023 Girl Scout Cookies sale in the 27 counties from the Western Pennsylvania council:
Total packages sold: More than 2.1 million
Top selling varieties: Thin Mints (appx. 529,000 packages), Tagalongs (appx. 373,000 packages) and Samoas (appx. 351,000 packages)
Girl Scouts who sold cookies: Just over 11,000
Proceeds that went back to Girl Scout troops: just under $1.9 million
Packages donated to the military through Operation: Sweet Appreciation: Nearly 52,000
Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Or at 814-870-1885.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Girl Scouts will be selling cookies from booths around Erie County PA
