Savoring 100 great years of Girl Scout cookie sales

In some respects, Scouting organizations in this country have been swept up in a dizzying torrent of change in recent years. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have adapted to broader inclusion in its membership and volunteer ranks by welcoming gay and transgender children. They’ve also aggressively expanded outreach to recruit more black and Hispanic children.

Yet the more things change, the more they stay the same for these bedrock American institutions. Through many transitions over the past century, other longstanding traditions endure and thrive.

Girl Scouts of the USA stays true to its promise of building trust, loyalty, obedience, courtesy, service and compassion among its nearly 3 million members. Another singular tradition of the organization has been the success of its signature fundraising drive: cookie sales.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first Girl Scout Cookie drive. In 1917, the Mistletoe Girl Scouts troop in Muskogee, Okla., sold cookies they had baked at home to raise money to send gifts to soldiers in World War I. Other troops embraced the idea, and the rest is history.

Today, Girl Scout cookie sales rank as the leading girl-led business in the nation. In recent years, Girl Scouts have sold about 200 million boxes of the treats annually, raking up more than $800 million in sales each season.

IT’S COOKIE WEEKEND

This year’s season kicks into high gear today with National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend designed to celebrate all the fun, experiences and excitement of Girl Scout membership. Locally, you can find cookie booths set up at various locations in the Mahoning Valley. You can also go to girlscoutcookies.org for more precise information on how and where you can get your hands on the delectable goodies.

This year’s offerings include the Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils and new S’Mores cookies. Investing in a box or two or three not only will satisfy your sweet tooth, it will also advance the honorable goals of the organization.

The cookie drive itself focuses on five essential skills for girls: decision-making, goal-setting, enhancing people skills, money management and business ethics. Those skills complement the broader values that Girl Scouts instills, including passions for education and community service.

And for those who think Girl Scouts are a relic of the Dark Ages, think again. It has been in the forefront of monitoring, addressing and helping youngsters overcome contemporary social ills.

“The State of Girls,” compiled by the Girl Scouts Research Institute and released earlier this month, concluded that “economic conditions affecting girls in the United States have not fully recovered from the Great Recession. These conditions are leading to increased emotional and physical distress among girls, with obesity, marijuana use, and low self-esteem on the rise.”

Programming and projects by the organization help young women to address such barriers to success head-on.

But to amass the resources for those valuable projects, the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio depends on the support of individuals and companies that recognize the value of this American character-building institution.

So this weekend when you venture out, get some instant gratification with your favorite variety of GS cookies. Then savor the long-term gratification of having done your part to advance the meritorious missions of Girl Scouts of the USA.