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Girl Scouts’ goal
By jeanne starmack
liberty
Hazel Scott had no intention of passing by the tempting array of Girl Scout cookies twice.
She pulled in to the parking lot of the One Stop Mart at Logan Way and Church Hill Road and got out of her car, money in hand.
“We were going to Pennsylvania, and coming back, I wanted to stop,” said Scott, who lives in Youngstown.
There are no Scouts selling cookies in her neighborhood, she explained. So she saw her chance and took it, choosing a box of Thin Mints and a box of Do-Si-Dos from a table set up there.
No surprise on the Thin Mints, because they are the best-selling of all the Girl Scout cookies, said 12-year-old Holly Goransson, daughter of Troop 80418’s leader, Nancy Goransson.
Isabella Minotti, also 12, wasn’t so sure about that.
“Ours seem to be the Do-Si-Dos,” said Isabella, who usually sets up her cookies at the BP station at 2720 Salt Springs Road in Weathersfield Township.
The girls, who are sixth-graders at Girard’s St. Rose School, begin about 4 p.m. and sell until 7 p.m.
They are there most evenings, and neither rain nor snow nor cold can keep them from their goal of selling 2,000 boxes each.
Wind and sleet are another story.
“Wind is the only thing that stops us,” said Nancy.
“The only way I won’t do it is sleet — or I would, as long as it’s not hurting me,” said Isabella.
If they do reach their goal, they will be in elite company. Only six Scouts from 27,000 in Northeast Ohio did so last year, said Nancy Goransson.
So far, Holly has sold 1,160 boxes and Isabella has sold 900.
They began selling March 8, and there are two weeks to go.
Their reward will be a trip to New York City, with sightseeing that includes the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. They’ll also take in a show, Broadway’s long-running “Wicked.”
“They’ll all remember this when they are 50,” Nancy said. “They’ll see a picture of the World Trade Center and say, ‘I went there,’” she said.
“It’s culture, and a huge learning experience for them.”
“It’s important that they’re working for it,” she continued.
What is their favorite part about selling cookies?
“Eating them,” said Isabella.
Holly concurred.