This is the last weekend to buy Girl Scout cookies, but they don’t usually go this far into April.
Girl Scout troops across the nation have extended their cookie deadlines due to supply chain issues.
The Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes were hit the hardest by supply chain issues.
When they couldn’t get cardboard in for their cookie boxes, their bakery was forced to switch to a different type of packaging in order to meet the high demand.
“The supply chain issues have been incredibly difficult, I will say that, and our girls have been so wonderful at pivoting and being nimble and understanding that the world affects what they do,” says Melissa Loest, Communications Director for the Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes.
While this is a national issue for the Girl Scouts, some groups have stayed immune.
“There’s actually two different types of bakeries, so we here at Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore, we’re linked to ABC Bakeries, so that was actually the bakery that was not linked to supply chain issues,” says Shelly Tansley, Communications Director for the Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore. “It was tough and our heart goes out to the kids who are working really hard to have to be coming out of Covid and met with those obstacles.”
Cookie sales make up the biggest fundraiser each year for Girl Scout troops.
“I’ve been able to focus a lot this year on Girl Scouts, the last three months have been nonstop cookies and cookie booths every single weekend,” says Troop 8704 Leader Jessica Edinger. “Our initial order was 338 cases for our troop of 11 girls and then every week we would go get at least one, sometimes two, car loads to bring in here to sell for our booths that weekend.”
A mother to four Girl Scouts of her own, Edinger says the Girl Scout program is very important to her girls.
“It’s not just about the cookies at all, for us, as adults, it’s about teaching the girls the things that they need to be successful later on,” says Edinger. “They decide how to spend the money, they decide what their goals are, they decide how many booths they want to do.”
Annabella Edinger and Hannah Radcliffe say they enjoy the skills they’ve learned and the people they’ve met through being Girl Scouts.
“I’ve learned money management and mostly talking to people we don’t know yet, mostly our customers and seeing if they were Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts,” says Edinger.
“I like hanging out with all the other girls at the cookie booths and selling cookies and seeing all of my old Girl Scout friends.” says Radcliffe.
With supply chain issues, their troop may not have been lucky enough to meet their goals this year and plan a well-deserved reward trip.
“Our troop goal was 6,000 but our troop’s final total was 8,158,” says Edinger.
The leftover cookies from each troop will be donated to local organizations, such as first responders and military/veteran groups.
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