Meet Maureen: Cookie Entrepreneur Officer

Maureen shared taste of the new Girl Scout S'mores cookie
with Chesapeake Vice-Mayor Rick West and Mayor Alan Krasnoff

Maureen is a 10-year-old on a mission. With her go-getter attitude and innovative ideas, she became the top Girl Scout Cookie seller in Chesapeake last year. This year, she has set her sights even higher and has set a goal to be the top cookie seller in the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast council, which covers southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Never afraid to step up and take on a challenge, she has set a hefty goal—intending to sell 3,500 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies this year.

For months, Maureen has been making plans to find success and reach her goal. Her first step is to contact her customers from the year before to see if they would like to place a cookie order again this year. She keeps a spreadsheet of customers on her computer and spends the first days of cookie season making phone calls, even reminding customers of the cookies they ordered last year and asking them if they would like to place the same order or update it. This year, she is excited to be able to offer her customers a new option—the Girl Scout S’mores cookie.

Maureen has also taken her sales online. She uses Digital Cookie, an online platform where she sets up her own store and sends emails to friends and family members asking them to purchase cookies online.

"With Digital Cookie, I send emails and then I am even selling cookies when I am sleeping or at school because people can log on to order when it’s convenient for them,” Maureen said. “I also love that I can track my sales online. There are pie charts, and I can see which cookie I sell the most of.”

Maureen’s inspiration for success comes from a fellow Girl Scout, Ashleigh Peterson, who held the region’s top cookie seller title for seven years before graduating from high school in June. Maureen has gotten to know Ashleigh over the years at Girl Scout events, and carries with her an inspiring and motivating message from Ashleigh.

“One time, Ashleigh told me that for every 10 times a customer says no, you will get one yes,” Maureen said. “This gives me the courage to keep asking people and not get discouraged if someone doesn’t want to buy cookies.”

Last year, Maureen helped load Gift of
Caring cookies into a truck to be donated
to the USO.

Part of Maureen’s goal includes selling cookies for the Gift of Caring program. Through this program, Maureen asks customers to purchase an extra box of cookies to be donated to members of the military. Inspired by her troop leader who is a veteran, Maureen likes to do her part to send a taste of home to soldiers overseas as a thank you for the sacrifices they make to protect our country.

After cookie season, Maureen and her fellow members of Troop 805 have big plans for their cookie earnings. They have scheduled a trip to attend the Girl Scout Jamboree in West Virginia. They are looking forward to a long weekend of high adventure activities, including zip lining, rappelling and mountain biking. They also intend to use a portion of the money they earn from cookies to give back to the community.

Last year, Maureen earned her Bronze Award, one of the top awards a girl can earn in Girl Scouting, for her project with the Crayon Initiative, which collects broken and used crayons and turns them into new crayons that are donated to children’s hospitals for patient entertainment and learning programs. Earning her Bronze Award showed Maureen how she can make the world a better place and has inspired her to continue to give back to others.

Meet Kristen: Cookie Entrepreneur Officer

Kristen with GSCCC CEO Tracy Keller

It’s a big year for Kristen, a Suffolk Girl Scout. She’s a high school senior busy with classes, college applications and scholarship forms. She also holds an afterschool job and is an active member of her church. And now, she’s gearing up for her annual business venture—Girl Scout Cookie season. She’s excited about being able to sell cookies during the 100^th anniversary of Girl Scouts selling cookies and giving customers a chance to taste the new anniversary cookie—the Girl Scout S’mores cookie.

For the last five years, Kristen has been the top Girl Scout Cookie seller in Suffolk. Last year, she sold 1,304 boxes of the sweet treats. This year, her last year as a Girl Scout, she has set her sights high and set a goal to sell 3,000 boxes of cookies.

“I am planning to go to more cookie booths than ever before this year,” Kristen said.

She also plans sell cookies the traditional way, going door-to-door with cookies in tow in mid-February when cookie delivery begins. And, as a goal-oriented businesswoman, she is going to try a new sales tactic this year—Digital Cookie. This online platform will allow her to set up her own online cookie store, and she can email friends and family members who can then order cookies from her online. There’s even an option for them to have the cookies shipped directly from the bakery to their homes.

Kristen, who has been a Girl Scout for 12 years, is a member of Troop 649. And, thanks to their successes during cookie season, the troop is able to use their earnings to give back to the community. Last year, they purchased schools supplies for an elementary school in Suffolk, purchased food to help feed more than 150 families through East End Baptist Church and bought Christmas presents for six girls from the Angel Tree at the church. The troop also donated Girl Scout Cookies to the food pantry at the church. Powered by the Girl Scout Cookie Program, Troop 649 is working to make their corner of the world a better place.

“As a graduation requirement, I have to complete 50 hours of community service,” Kristen said. “Through Girl Scouts and my church, I was able to complete my hours my freshman year of high school. Community service has become a big part of my life, and I will continue to give back to others when I start college in the fall.”

For Kristen, making a positive impact on others is just one of the many life lessons she will take away from her time as a Girl Scout. Through Girl Scouts, she has learned to me a risk-taker, a leader, an innovator, and, thanks to the cookie program, a businesswoman.

The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the nation’s leaning financial literacy and entrepreneurial program for girls. Girl Scout Cookies not only help girls earn money for fun, educational activities and community projects, but also play a huge role in teaching girls how to be go-getters, innovators, risk-takers and leaders as they learn essential life and business skills.

Girl Scouts in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina are currently taking orders for cookies. Cookies will arrive to the region on February 18, and cookie booth sales will begin the following day. For more information, visit www.gsccc.org. 

Meet Remedy: Cookie Entrepreneur Officer

Remedy and Raylan

Remedy may be just 10 years old, but she’s already running her very own business as a Girl Scout Cookie entrepreneur. Last year, Remedy was the top Girl Scout Cookie seller in Surry County, selling 677 boxes of the sweet treats. For the 2017 cookie sale, Remedy is looking forward to sharing her experience with a cookie colleague, her five-year-old sister Raylan who joined Girl Scouts this year. The pair will work together to reach out to family members, friends and neighbors in search of cookie customers. This year, Remedy has set a goal to sell at least 700 boxes of cookies, and since she’ll be sharing sales with her sister, she knows that she will have to work harder than in year’s past to reach her goal.

With five years of cookie-selling experience, Remedy is always eager to share helpful tips with fellow Girl Scouts. One of her favorite ways to boost her sales is to talk to customers about the Gift of Caring program. Through this program, she asks people to buy an extra box of cookies to be donated to a hometown hero. Last year, Remedy and her fellow troop members gave the donated cookies to the USO to distribute to members of the military. This year, Troop 1197 plans to personally deliver donated boxes to local charities and first responders so that they can meet the hometown heroes who will be enjoying the cookies.

When it comes to the cookie program, however, Remedy knows that it’s about more than just sales tactics. It’s about the girl selling the cookies too. Her can-do mentality and determination to succeed makes her a leader among Girl Scouts in Surry.

“I love to help younger Girl Scouts build their confidence at cookie booths,” Remedy said. “I show them how easy it is to ask people to buy or donate cookies, and I remind them to say ‘thank you’ even if they don’t make a sale.”

And, although Remedy loves cookie season, there are so many other things that she loves about being a Girl Scout. She’s already looking forward to going on camping trips, earning badges and taking field trips with her troop, all activities made possible thanks to the funds they earn from the cookie program.

The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the nation’s leaning financial literacy and entrepreneurial program for girls. Girl Scout Cookies not only help girls earn money for fun, educational activities and community projects, but also play a huge role in teaching girls how to be go-getters, innovators, risk-takers and leaders as they learn essential life and business skills.

Girl Scouts in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina are currently taking orders for cookies. Cookies will arrive to the region on February 18, and cookie booth sales will begin the following day. For more information, visit www.gsccc.org.

Girls’ Choice Badges Are Back: Voting Is Open Through January 22!

At Girl Scouts, girl-led programming that speaks to and nurtures girls’ interests and skills (they have so many!) is at the very core of our mission to build girls of courage, confidence, and character. At every turn, we want her to know the world is hers, and so we give her countless opportunities to unleash that inner G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ who will take the lead to change her world, and ours.

That’s exactly why Girls’ Choice badges are back, and we’re so excited! This year, girls can choose their favorite badge topic from four new and exciting options. And for the very first time, there will be a Girls’ Choice badge for our littlest (and sometimes mightiest!) Girl Scouts. That’s right—Daisies will get a Girls’ Choice badge of their very own. Yes!

Here are this year’s choices:

Outdoors
• Troop Camping
• Outdoor Cooking

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)
• Water Around Us
• The Secret Life of Plants

The poll is officially open, so go on and vote now for your favorite badge topic. Voting is open through January 22. We can hardly stand the suspense!

Once the winning topic is selected, girls will also have a chance to vote on the design of their badge—awesome! The design poll will be open from February 13 to 17, so stay tuned.

For now, we ask you to encourage every Girl Scout you know to vote, vote, vote. We need every adult standing with us to make sure girls take advantage of this very important opportunity to create their own Girl Scout experience and make their voices heard. It’s such an important part of the magic and leadership potential that Girl Scouts unleashes in girls every day.

The time to vote is now.

Graduating Ambassadors Eligible for KPMG Future Leaders Program and Scholarship

The KPMG Future Leaders Program selects top female high school seniors from around the country to participate in the program and receive a KPMG Future Leaders Scholarship of $10,000 per year through four years of college. Selected students attend a three-day retreat at Stanford University the summer before their freshman year of college; in 2017, the retreat will be held July 17–19. Students also participate in a yearlong mentoring program, paired with a female leader participating in the KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit.

Learn more about the program and fill out the application, which is due to the Office of Condoleezza Rice by January 30.

Cookie Blitz with TowneBank

Dawn Glynn, President and Regional Executive Officer with
Morgan Davis, President and Chief Banking Officer

Thanks to TowneBank, the annual Girl Scout Cookie Program season has had a super rocket launch! Not only has TowneBank supported the 2017 Cookie Kick Off held mid-November for girls, they are sponsoring this week’s Cookie Blitz. Throughout the week, GSCCC CEO Tracy Keller and select staff will be “cookie blitzing” donors, community leaders and friends, offering them a chance to sample and tell us what they think about the new Girl Scout Cookie - the S’mores cookie! The actual door-to-door, order-taking visits made by girls in neighborhoods begins Saturday, January 7.

TowneBank President and Chief Banking Officer Morgan Davis was on hand today at the bank’s headquarters in Suffolk to taste a Girl Scout S’mores cookie. He gives it a thumbs up!

Dawn Glynn with Jerry Kent, TowneBank Senior Vice President
of Private Banking

This year is a perfect time to have a cookie blitz because 2017 marks the 100th year of the first known sale of cookies by Girl Scouts. In 1917, the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project. Becoming more than a bake sale, the program has evolved into a highly recognized financial literacy and entrepreneurship program for girls that teaches them five essential skills – goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. There’s quite a bit of history when it comes to Girl Scout Cookies!

Nationally, nearly 1 million Girl Scouts participate in the annual Girl Scout Cookie Program – nearly 10,000 of those right here at Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast! Proceeds help fund troop activities, unique programs that girls may not get elsewhere, support the training of adult volunteers, and help maintain camp properties. We’re looking forward to a successful cookie season in 2017. We know it will be a whole lot sweeter for our girls, thanks to our TowneBank friends!

Gold Award Spotlight: Stay Sand Smart

Angela, a Virginia Beach Girl Scout, has earned the Gold Award, the highest honor and achievement a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

For her project, Angela focused on educating the community about sand safety. When her brother was a child, he fell into a hole he was digging at the beach and it collapsed on him, suffocating him. He was buried for 20 minutes, which caused a severe anoxic brain injury, leading to severe disabilities.

“Prior to beginning my Gold Award project, I viewed my brother’s accident as simply an issue within my family,” Angela said. “This project helped me realize that this is an accident that could happen to anyone in my community, and I felt the need to take action.”

Angela worked with the aquatic staff at the City of Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Department to develop a lesson plan about sand safety that is now taught in the Learn to Swim classes at recreation centers in Virginia Beach. The lesson focuses on sand hole collapses, but also teaches children about germs in sand, protecting themselves from hot sand and what to do if they get sand in their eyes. Angela also created a brochure and poster to go along with the lesson.

In order to reach even more people, Angela placed her brochures at the Virginia Beach Visitor Center and the Oceanfront Library and hosted an informational booth at Scout Ready, a safety and emergency preparedness expo. Angela plans to continue to educate as many people as she can about sand safety and hopes to be able to work with local elementary schools to educate their students about sand safety.

The Gold Award requires girls to identify an issue in the community and carry out a Take Action project to address the matter through leadership work. Nationwide, less than six percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the Gold Award, which adds Angela to an elite group of female leaders across the country with the honor. In 2016, Girl Scouts are celebrating 100 years of girls changing the world during the centennial year of the Girl Scout Gold Award.