March 28, 2024

It’s cookie time!

It may not be an official holiday, but the day Girl Scout cookies are available is definitely marked on more than one calendar. The PCM Troop 01096 is currently selling the world famous snacks and would love hand out a box or ten to everyone in the communities while supplies last.

“All the classics are back! Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Patties, Caramel Delites, Thanks-a-lots, Shortbread, S’mores and Lemonades,” troupe leader Michelle Edgett said.

The sales from the cookie fundraiser are used to continue to move the troop forward, now in its second year after officially starting in February 2018. Currently, the troupe has 11 girls participating ages kindergarten through fifth grade.

“We are 100 percent volunteer led and 100 percent donation/fundraising funded. We use money from donations, cookies, and other fundraisers to buy badges, uniforms, activity/meeting supplies and many other items for the girls,” Edgett said. “We also use funds to pay for field trips and activities, and even help girls and volunteers pay for membership in the troop. The possibilities are endless and there is so much the girls would love to do.”

She said as a new troop, they have not had very much time to raise funds. With sales from the 2019 cookies season, she hopes to take the girls field trips and camp outs this year.

In its first year, the troop has been working on learning the Girl Scout Promise and Law, “On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law” and “I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout,” and how it applies to the girls. They have also attended camps, marched in parades and gathered items of the PCM Food Pantry.

The group meets twice per month with the days times adjusted when needed to accommodate other activities such as dance and sports.

Girl Scouts was founded more than 100 years ago by Juliette Gordan Low in Savannah, Ga. It serves as the preeminent leadership development organization for girls offering a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure and success with the mission “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.”

Cookie sales started as early as 1917 when a troop from Muskogee, Okla. baked cookies and sold them at the high school as a service project. From there, cookies sales grew as more and more troops adopted the fundraiser. By 1951, Girl Scout Cookies came in three varieties: Sandwich, Shortbread and Chocolate Mints (now known as Thin Mints) and five years later a fourth was introduced into the mix.

As the decades went by, the sale of cookies continued to grow into the phenomenon it is now. With staple varieties including Thin Mints, Thanks-a-lots and Shortbreads, Girl Scout Cookies are not only pleasing the public’s sweet tooth but raising funds to further the scouts’ mission.

For those looking to fill their cookies fix, a cookies booth will be available at Monroe Foods and a few other locations in Prairie City and Monroe. Edgett said people can also contact their favorite Girl Scout or the troop and be reached at PCMGS1096@gmail.com.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com