Every winter, during a seven-week window between January and March, the Girl Scout Cookie Program gets underway and thousands of boxes of the popular sweet treats — from Thin Mints to Caramel deLites — exchange hands.
“The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the perfect opportunity for girls to develop important skills that they will use throughout their life while raising funds to support future leadership endeavors with Girl Scouts,” said Kelly Griffin, the product sales director for Girl Scouts – North Carolina Coastal Pines, a region that includes Chatham County.
“All of the girls that participated in the 2020 program made their own unique contribution,” added Griffin, “making them entrepreneurs in the largest girl-led business in the world, and we could not be prouder of them. We are excited to honor and celebrate the leaders of this year’s Girl Scout Cookie Program.”
Those leaders include three local Girl Scouts whose combined efforts during this year’s sales window — from January 11 through March 1 — realized sales totaling 2,567 boxes of cookies, making them the top-selling Scouts in Chatham County.
Judith White of Chapel Hill is Chatham County’s top seller, with 1,038 boxes of Girl Scout cookies sold.
Kameron Gooch-Degraffenreidt of Siler City achieved the second highest number of sales, with 776 boxes sold.
Mariah Pedrotty of Pittsboro placed third with 753 boxes sold.
Joining the Chatham County Girl Scouts, the regional council’s top sellers were Chloe Huggler of Wake County (5,005 boxes); Allison Bundle of Onslow County (4,826 boxes); and Taryn Brooks of Harnett County (4,600 boxes).
“I have been selling cookies since I was a Girl Scout Daisy and have learned customer service, public speaking, sales, goal setting, marketing, keeping inventory, banking and money management, and that you can reach your goals with a lot of hard work,” said Huggler, the council’s top seller. “The proceeds from cookie sales are helping me to pay my own way on a Girl Scout trip to Scotland and Ireland in 2021.”
Girl Scouts – North Carolina Coastal Pines — a region encompassing 41 central and eastern North Carolina counties and engaging more than 26,000 girls and 9,000 adult volunteers — sold more than 3 million boxes of cookies with approximately 11,000 Girl Scouts participating in the 2020 program.
According to Dana Erickson, a public relations official with the Coastal Pines program, more than 2,300 girls sold more than 400 boxes of cookies each and 350 girls sold more than 1,000 boxes each. Council-wide, the average number of boxes sold per girl was 282. Nationally, the average number of boxes sold by Girl Scouts is approximately 165.
This year, the council exceeded its Operation Cookie Drop goal by collecting donations to send more than 104,000 boxes of cookies to U.S. military personnel, culminating in more than a million boxes delivered through this council-wide service project since its inception in 2005.
Participating in the Girl Scout Cookie Program is “a long-held and cherished tradition for girls, with recognition as a top cookie seller a coveted honor,” according to a Girl Scouts press release. “Being named a top seller goes beyond what’s in the box as it highlights a girl’s determination to set and achieve goals, develop business and financial literacy skills, and enhance their entrepreneurial spirit. This recognition also demonstrates a girl’s mastery of the five skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics as she runs her very own cookie business.”
Erickson added: “The skills girls are learning through the Girl Scout Cookie Program helps them achieve their goals and fund leadership experiences like international trips, service projects, and other skill-building activities. Celebrating a century of the world’s largest girl-led business, Girl Scouts – North Carolina Coastal Pines congratulates all our cookie sellers on an amazing cookie season and for using the power of the cookie to help build amazing experiences.”
Randall Rigsbee can be reached at rigsbee@chathamnr.com.