Local Girl Scout Troop does big things for Birmingham via cookie sales

Have you snagged your box of Girl Scout Cookies yet? If not, you may want to consider buying them from Troop 30148.

Meet Wren. Eight years old and in third grade at Cahaba Elementary in Trussville. She began her journey as a Girl Scout Brownie when she first became a Daisy Scout at six years old.

Girl Scouts is broken up into different service units. Wren’s troop, Troop 30148 is part of the North-Central Alabama SU.

Troop 30148 is made up of 20 girls from the greater Birmingham area. Three moms help lead and manage the troop – Sabrina Lange, Mallory Wilkins and Christina Kallaher.

This year, Wren and her troop have joined together to make ever-lasting friendships, learn life lessons and skills, and do big things for the community.

Some history

The journey of Girl Scouts began more than 100 years ago with the original G.I.R.L., Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low. It was on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, GA, that Daisy organized the very first Girl Scouts troop.

Every year since then, Girl Scouts have honored her vision and legacy, by building girls of courage, confidence and character to help make the world a better place.

Today, Girl Scouts has 2.6 million members – 1.8 million girls and 800 adults.

Check out more on the history of Girl Scouts, here.

All about cookies

As you know, Girl Scouts holds an annual event selling… yep, cookies! You’ve probably seen lots of troops selling their famous cookies each year – outside grocery stores, home improvement stores, etc. They may have even come to your house asking if you’d like to buy a box, or three. A cookie delivery straight to my front door? Sign me up!

But there’s much more to the annual cookie sale than most know.

“The cookie program has been around for a very long time and teaches the girls some important skills,” said Mallory Wilkins, cookie manager of Troop 30148, and Wren’s mom.

The important skills Mallory is talking about are:

• Goal-setting
• Decision-making
• Money management
• People skills
• Business ethics

According to Girl Scouts, teaching these skills is the main goal of the cookie program and is essential to leadership, success and life.

Girl Scouts of the USA sells more than 200 million boxes of cookies each year. That’s a whole lot of cookies!

Can you guess what the top-selling cookie is? I’ll give you a few seconds to think it over…

If you guessed Thin Mints – ding, ding, ding – you are correct!

Thin Mints typically claim about 25 percent of all national Girl Scout cookie sales.

“My personal favorite is the S’mores,” said Wren.

She did confirm, however, that Thin Mints were, in fact, one of her most popular sale items.

Wren has two cookie-selling goals this year; her troop goal and her personal goal.

Troop 30148 set a selling goal of 10,000 boxes – and guess what, they have already passed it! Now they are working toward their stretch goal of 12,000 boxes by the end of the cookie season.

Wren’s personal cookie-selling goal is set at 2,000 boxes, a huge goal! With almost a month left of cookie sales, she is currently just 25 boxes short of her goal. If she hits it, she will then move on to her next personal goal of 3,000 cookies.

How the cookie crumbles

With over 200 million boxes of cookies sold per year, you are probably curious to know where all that cookie money goes. Here’s how the cookie crumbles:

Each service unit gets to keep the money they raise within their specific unit. The money is then put toward many different things.

• Each troop keeps 18%.
• The Girl Scouts Council keeps 51%. This money goes toward maintaining properties, scout events, training and other support.
• The final 31% is used to cover the cost of rewards and cookies.

Serving the community

When you think of the Girl Scouts, you probably think of two main activities – arts and crafts and selling cookies. Sure, that may be part of it. After all, selling cookies is how each Girl Scout troop funds everything they do throughout the year. But there is so much more to the organization than what meets the eye.

Sabrina gave me a mile-long list of all of the activities Troop 30148 has done this year. It includes everything from camping, hiking and canoeing to visiting the zoo and getting a behind-the-scenes look at a vet office. They’ve even traveled to the space center in Huntsville and taken several classes, including sewing, dance and self-defense.

“We are a very busy troop,” said Sabrina. “I could not be prouder of this group of girls. They are constantly amazing me with their true kindness, and I absolutely love watching them change and grow in their relationships with each other… these girls have big dreams and big plans for the future, and I am excited to be there to help them make it all happen.”

But it’s not just fun, games and giggling girls. In the midst of the many exciting events the troop has participated in, they have also committed their time to various community service projects. Some include:

• Raising cereal and cookie donations for 3 Hots and a Cot;
• Collecting money at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve to help fund the park;
• Hosting a food drive where they collected and donated 500 items to a local food bank; and
• Collecting toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap to make hygiene bags for Soap thru Hope.

They are also currently doing multiple fundraisers in order to donate to the organization Neverthirst and purchase at least one water filtration system for a family in Uganda.

“The Neverthirst project is one I am most happy about,” said Wren. “I am looking forward to helping other people have fresh water.”

How to order

Girl Scout Cookies can be ordered online or in person. If you’re out and about in Trussville this weekend, you can find Troop 30148 selling boxes on Saturday and Sunday. Let them know I sent you!

• Saturday, Feb. 24, from 9am-1:30pm at Walmart and Lowe’s (Trussville)
• Sunday, Feb. 25, from 2pm-6pm at Frios (Trussville)

There are two ways to get your Girl Scout Cookie order.

1. Have them shipped directly to you.
2. Have them delivered by a Girl Scout herself.

The sale ends March 18, so don’t miss out! Follow this link to satisfy your sweet tooth and help support Wren and Troop 30148.

Do you know someone who would like to join Girl Scouts? Find a troop near you.