Juniors Stephanie Westrick and Dani Lubienski have been participating in Girl Scouts and selling cookies for 11 years, but Covid-19 has prevented the scouts from selling cookies as they normally do. This year, the girls relied on the community to buy boxes in a socially distanced manner.
Westrick felt the pain of adjusting to Covid-19 sales as she struggled to come close to her goal, which she usually exceeds.
“Last year I was able to sell over 1,000 boxes, which was really cool,” Westrick said. “(Covid-19) has greatly impacted my sales this year. I only sold 241 boxes this year.”
According to Westrick, the main reason for this drop in sales was because of the troops’ inability to sell in booths, which they normally set up in front of local stores and businesses. This year, they sold boxes to close friends and family in person, but opted to reach other customers through new selling methods according to Lubienski.
“A lot of sales this year ended up being virtual, whether that means making phone calls, using social media, text or email,” Lubienski said. “A lot of ways have presented themselves to continue to sell (safely).”
Westrick and Lubienski were not alone in needing to develop creative methods for their cookie sales. Other high school troops also found alternative ways to safely sell their boxes. Mother of students Helen and Juliette Aouad and cookie mom for the girls’ troop Lisa Aouad says her daughters and their friends are also using online tools to make their sales.
“Some girls in our troop are selling cookies through a platform called Digital Cookie,” Aouad said. “It provides a way for people to order and pay online and have their cookies delivered directly to their house.”
Digital Cookie has allowed the troop to reach customers safely, keeping with COVID-19 safety precautions. The girls have also used social media as a way to promote their sales.
In addition to these online tools, the girls plan to stage cookie drive-throughs as a way to replace their traditional booths. Aoaud says these methods, although difficult, have not deterred the girls from accomplishing their cookie-selling goals.
“Our troop ordered the same amount of cookies for booths as last year,” Aouad said. “We are hopeful that we will find new creative ways to meet our troop’s sales goals.”
Though these older girls have found creative ways to continue cookie sales, many young Girl Scouts like Hailee Drouin, daughter of teacher and varsity football coach Joe Drouin, have stopped their sales altogether. They were unable to continue meeting, and many of the girls have yet to advance to the next level as junior Girl Scouts.
“[Hailee] was supposed to be a junior Girl Scout (this year) but couldn’t,” Drouin said. “She was really bummed.”
Despite the plethora of obstacles faced by different Girl Scout troops around the community this year, Aouad is proud of how her girls stepped up to the challenge.
“We have a great group of girls in our troop,” Aouad said. “They are working together and looking forward to getting out and selling as many cookies as they can despite any obstacles.”