Share in the Girl Scout Cookie Love on Mercer Island!

This week, Girl Scouts turned 101 years old! What timing, given that it is, for western Washington, the final week of cookie sales!

If you see Girl Scouts selling around Mercer Island, you might want to grab a few extra boxes, since sales end March 17, and won’t come again for another year.

For many Girl Scouts, this is their favorite time of year. Girls like nine-year-old Mikayla, from Troop #41140, who was hard at work during the cookie pre-sale, and sold 503 boxes, with much of the money being donated to Hurricane Sandy relief. Then there are girls like Greta from Troop #43991, who made connections with a local business during her pre-sale and sold cookies to Yo Mercer yogurt bar to use for their special toppings. Girls are not short of ambition when it comes to selling cookies!

One of the main skills girls learn from participating in the cookie sale is goal setting. Nine-year-old Ava from Troop #41158, set her goal last year to sell 400 boxes and ended up selling 390. That just made her more determined this year, and she sold 435 boxes!

Girls get to do really cool things with the money they earn by selling cookies.

Ava’s troop donates a portion of all money earned to local organizations like Treehouse and the Union Gospel Mission. Their troop also donated time to a local food drive and baked cookies and decorated lunch bags for over 100 sack lunches for the Union Gospel Mission.

For Girl Scouts like Ava, booth sales are another fun way to spend time with friends and have fun. “I really like standing at the table with my friends when we all accidently ask people at the same time if they’d like to buy some cookies- it’s funny!” says Ava. “Then all of us take care of a different part of the sale. One of us takes the money and one of us gives the boxes of cookies to the customer.” Working as a team, this simple kind of interaction allows girls to learn valuable skills like money management, people skills and business ethics.

When girls aren’t busy with cookie sales, they’re encouraged to attend events on Mercer Island like Girls Night Out for Middle Schoolers (GNOMS). This event is held one night a month, and girls can explore new activities and hang out with friends. “We’ve done things like pizza and movie night, ceramic painting and holiday gift-making, says volunteer Lori Kovarik.

If you’re interested in helping girls become involved in Girl Scouts, consider volunteering! Ava’s mom, Sarah, is the co-leader of Ava’s troop and she credits volunteering as a unique way for her to spend time with her daughter.

“As many things that my daughter and I can do together is important to me,” she notes. “I also feel like we live in an area where we are very fortunate to have pretty much everything we need, so it’s important to teach our girls that there are a lot of needs out in the world that they might not be aware of.”

You’ll continue to see girls selling cookies outside of business now until March 17. You can find out exactly where Girl Scout Cookies are being sold here.

Learn more about how to join or volunteer for Girl Scouts of Western Washington at www.girlscoutsww.org.