East Cooper Girl Scouts accomplish record-breaking cookie sales
A record-breaking total of 70,908 boxes of Girl Scout cookies were sold this year by Girl Scouts in East Cooper Service Unit 650, which includes all the troops in Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island, Awendaw, Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms.
Girls pulling wagons loaded with cookies, troop booth sales in front of area stores, and online cookie sales resulted in 68,556 boxes of cookies sold directly to customers. An additional 2,352 boxes were purchased by customers to donate to Cookies for a Cause — which provides cookies to U.S. military service members serving overseas, on Navy vessels, or in veterans hospitals.
The top seller among the 365 Girl Scouts in the East Cooper Service Unit was third grader Brooklyn Stafford of Troop 3321, who sold more than 3,000 boxes of cookies. Her mom and troop leader, Elizabeth Stafford, said, “Our troop is going to use the money that we earned to go on several field trips and a camping trip. It’s hard work selling cookies but the lessons learned and the people you meet along the way are totally worth it!”
Troop 756, a group of girls from kindergarten through sixth grade that meets at St. Benedict Catholic Church, recently donated several dozen boxes of cookies to the Feeding Our Heroes initiative which provides meals for health care workers at MUSC and Roper St. Francis. Additionally, the troop donated almost 500 diapers to the Junior League of Charleston’s Diaper Bank.
This year was the first time the Brownies in Troop 3312 sold cookies. These second and third graders were proud of their accomplishments, having sold over 2,500 boxes of cookies and donating $556 to Cookies for a Cause. In addition, the troop donated several cases of cookies to MUSC employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was fun to be able to load up our wagon to sell and deliver cookies this year.” explained Abby Finkenberg, a senior Girl Scout in Troop 957. “Our customers were so excited that they got their cookies right then! With the extra earnings we will be able to help support our two Silver Award projects: our Blessings Box at All Saints Lutheran Church and our Paws4Life awareness program donating needed supplies to Pet Helpers and Charleston Animal Society.”
The Girl Scouts in East Cooper Service Unit 650 participated in a variety of community service projects during the year including a beach and river sweep, providing gifts to children in foster care, and visiting local nursing homes. The group also hosted a fall camping trip, World Thinking Day, and many badge-earning events.
Proceeds raised from cookie sales support the activities of individual troops, as well as the Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina (GSESC) council, which serves 21 counties statewide. Scouts in the GSESC region sold over a million boxes of cookies.
The 2020 Girl Scout Cookie season included eight varieties: Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-si-dos, S’mores, Toffee-tastics and the newest cookie, Lemon-Ups. Thin Mints were the most popular variety sold, followed by Samoas and Tagalongs.
For more information about joining Girl Scouts or forming a troop, visit girlscoutsesc.org.