It's Girl Scout cookie time again, and Mancos Girl Scout Troop 4403 is ready!
The scouts' goal for selling cookies is 334 boxes each, they said. While that seems like a lot, they are using the money to go to Girl Scout camp in August, which will cost them $200 each. The Girl Scout camp is in Durango, Hale said. They will be busy with horseback riding, swimming, hiking, rock-climbing and other outdoor activities.
The nine junior scouts in the troop have all been involved in scouting for a few years and they love it. Leader Brandy Hale has been with the girls for three years now and enjoys watching them grown and learn. She has had up to 12 girls in her troop.
In addition to going door-to-door to sell cookies, said the girls, they also do a lot of booth sales, setting up a table in front of stores that allow them to be there, such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, P & D and City Market. They also go to Durango and Telluride to hawk their cookies.
"The most popular cookie is the Thin Mint," they said. At $3.50 per box, they seem to sell a lot, but the troop itself only gets $.60 per box, said the girls.
If, for some unknown reason they don't make enough money to go to camp, they will add to their money with other fundraising efforts such as bake sales.
Cadette scout Jessalyn Bay-Voit is also selling cookies, but is in troop #2310. Her goal is to raise enough money to go to Europe in 2015 with other scouts.
What do they learn while they're selling cookies? Each of the girls had a different answer. "We learn to be nice and respectful!" "We learn people skills!" "We learn to count money!", they said. Business ethics, decision-making and goal setting are also things that the girls learn as they market their product.
"It's always a good opportunity to teach them," said Hale.
As the Girl Scouts go through their year, they do many service projects. One of them this particular troop has chosen to go along with their cookie-selling is called Hometown Heroes. Each troop has a different Hometown Hero, and this hear Troop #4403 has chosen to concentrate on the fire and police departments.
"Anyone can donate to them, or they can buy a box of cookies and tell us that they want the money to go to the fire or police department," said the girls.
The Mancos troop will be selling cookies from Jan. 27 through March 3, and they start their booth sales on Feb. 8.