The Garden City Telegram
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Cookies for a cause
Published 1/26/2009 in News
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
This year's cookie drive for the Tumbleweed Region, which covers the state's southwest corner for Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland, has been somewhat more of a challenge for Kourtney Goss, 10, and her mom, Kelly Combs.
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Stephanie Farley/Telegram — Kourtney Goss, 10, stands Sunday along Ridgewood Drive. Goss, a Junior this year, and other Girl Scouts throughout southwest Kansas are selling cookies for their annual cookie drive. Goss was able to attend camp last year with the cookie credits and incentives she received from selling nearly 1,000 boxes.
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Stephanie Farley/Telegram — Kourtney Goss, 10, goes door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies Sunday afternoon.
Goss has been sick this winter — so has some of her family. And Combs is nine months pregnant.
But on Sunday, Combs and her daughter, along with Goss' brother, Miles, 3, who was asleep in the car's backseat, drove along Ridgewood Drive, looking for people in their homes, ready and willing to buy cookies.
Goss sold 951 boxes during last year's cookie sale, which was about at the vehicle's capacity for cookie hauling, they found out.
Girl Scouts throughout the Tumbleweed Region -- which covers 19 counties, including Morton, Stevens, Seward, Meade, Clark, Ford, Gray, Hugoton, Ness, Lane, Finney, Scott, Wichita, Greeley, Hamilton, Kearny, Stanton, Grant and Haskell -- are making their way door to door, making sales calls to sell boxes upon boxes of Girl Scout cookies during the organization's annual cookie sale.
According to Judy Keeton, business manager and product sales manager for the Tumbleweed Region, the cookie drive officially started Jan. 17 and runs to March 9, with initial orders due by Feb. 4. But don't worry, Keeton says, cookie lovers who don't get their orders in by that date still can order cookies by calling the Tumbleweed office at 276-4061, or (888) 900-7061.
"And we will get a Girl Scout to them," she said.
The 2009 goal for Tumbleweed is to sell 90,000 boxes of cookies. Girl Scouts in the region sold about 86,000 boxes for 2008.
Eight varieties of cookies are available this year for $3.50 a box, according to Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland, which serves about 15,000 girls and 5,000 adults in 80 Kansas counties. For more than 90 years, Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland states, the Girl Scout cookie program "has helped girls foster a sense of personal and collective empowerment by promoting skills they will use throughout their lives." The organization states that through the cookie program, girls age 5 to 17 learn how to set goals, develop action plans, work as a team and cultivate a sense of business ethics.
The 2009 cookie sale also marks the first year for the Girl Scout Daisies, grades kindergarten through first, to sell cookies.
Keeton said that because the Daisies are younger, the organization recommends they sell cookies their first year or so to friends and family. They also must be accompanied by a parent at all times when selling. There'll be some "go-getters," Keeton said of the little scouts, so there will be some who might go door to door with a parent, but they must always be accompanied and supervised.
The Tumbleweed regional cookie kickoff was Jan. 17, with Western State Bank sponsoring the event at Lee Richardson Zoo. According to Keeton and Tumbleweed, $1.86 of the proceeds from a cookie box goes to programs and services for the Girl Scouts; 38 cents goes to the actual scouts through cookie credits and incentives, which can help the girls either earn prizes or attend camps; 35 cents goes to the troops for programs, activities and supplies; and 87 cents goes to the cookie baker for the cookies, troop materials, standard and special print forms and promotional materials.
Keeton said the cookies will arrive between Feb. 19 and 22.
"People look forward to Girl Scout cookie time," Keeton said. "I think it's tradition. And because they taste so good."
A Junior in Girl Scouts, Goss will be a Cadette next year. It's her fifth year in scouts, and she sells to friends, family and others. There are businesses she has been selling to since she started, Combs said, adding she got a call from one business who told her they were impressed by her politeness and professionalism and that if she was of hiring age, they'd hire her.
There are people who've come to expect Goss coming around with a cookie order sheet, Combs said.
"So we don't want to let them down," they both said.
Goss continued making her way down Ridgewood Drive with an ordering sheet in one hand, knocking on doors with the other. Some will buy them even if they don't plan on eating them.
"They go ahead and say, 'Oh, I'll take some,'" she said.
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