Thin Mints, or Tagalongs? Samoas or Do-Si-Dos? Everyone has their own personal favorites.
And just like young children look forward to Dec. 25 every year, cookie lovers across America eagerly await the last few weeks of February. The Girl Scouts cookies have arrived!
A team of parents and helpers from Issaquah, Klahanie and Sammamish were on hand early on Tuesday morning to greet the semi-trailer which made the long trip from Little Brownie Bakers in Louisville, Ky. On board were 4,590 cases of cookies, including more than 1,500 of the very popular Thin Mints, and almost 1,100 cases of Samoas. Each case holds 12 boxes of cookies. You do the math – that’s a lot of tasty goodness.
On Monday, Girl Scout troops in Issaquah took delivery of their cookie orders.
This is the fifth year that Service Unit 440 Cookie Manager Tracy Waymire has been involved with the delivery and distribution of cookies to local Girl Scout troops, and she said that Thin Mints and Samoas were always the most popular varieties.
“Every year it’s a close fight, but the Thin Mints always win,” she said. For Waymire, a mother of two Girl Scouts, the cookie sales are about much more than the cookies themselves, or the money they raise.
“It is something that makes a lot of sense to me,” she said. “It’s not about the money. It’s about young women being able to set goals for themselves, it’s about being organized, and marketing, and it’s about being able to accept the word ‘no,’ and how to turn that ‘no’ into a ‘yes.'”
Waymire, whose husband Richard also contributes to local girl scout activities, recognized the importance of Girl Scouts being invested in how the organization raises money for the camps and activities they enjoy.
Girl Scout Service Unit 440, which covers the southern half of the Sammamish Plateau, is comprised of 62 different troops, and more than 700 Girl Scouts aged between 5 and 17.
For the past few years, Girl Scout cookie sales have not only funded Girl Scout activities, but also supported American military personnel.
Through Operation Cookie Drop, people can buy boxes of cookies which will then be sent to overseas bases and to military families in America – a way of saying “thank you for your service.”
Girl Scouts from both Issaquah and Sammamish will be selling cookies this weekend at a variety of locations, including at Fred Meyer, QFC, Rite Aid, Safeway and Starbucks stores, and Caffe Ladro in the Highlands.
Each year, Girl Scouts across America sell an estimated 200 million boxes of cookies. In 2008, a 15-year-old Girl Scout, Jennifer Sharpe, from Dearborn, Mich. sold 17,328 boxes of cookies – thought to be the all-time cookie selling record.
Girl Scout organizers were very appreciative of the support of Rowley Properties, who donated the warehouse space to store the thousands of boxes of cookies.
“Otherwise they’d all be in our garage,” said Richard Waymire. “And our garage just isn’t that big.”
For more information on Girl Scout troops in Western Washington, visit /www.girlscoutsww.org
