Area Girl Scouts begin cookie sales

Three thousand hands will start knocking on doors today all across the region, all in an effort to feed what is perhaps America's favorite snack habit -- Girl Scout cookies.

From now until Jan. 27, the girls guided by the Cape Girardeau-based Girl Scout Otahki Council will make their annual sales pitch in eight counties in Missouri and three in Illinois. They won't need to use any high-pressure tactics, either.

"The number one reason we get from someone who doesn't buy Girl Scout cookies is that they were never asked," said program director Karen Redford. "It really is an American tradition."

Girl scout Becky Koeller piped in, "And the cookies are really, really good, too."

Customers can expect to receive their orders by March 1. In 2002, the girls of the Otahki Council sold 202,000 boxes of cookies. This year, the council set a sales goal of 97 boxes per girl. Less than a third of the $3 price covers the cost of the product, but the remainder of the money stays with the local Girl Scout council, she said.

Girls earn recognition items for doing well in sales, including stuffed animals and "cookie bucks," which are used to pay for trips or buy Girl Scout items in the council's shop.

Koeller, 14, of Jackson, said the sales enabled her council to assist girls with funding their "Wider Opportunity" adventures, like the rock-climbing trip she just took to Palm Springs, Calif.

"Almost everybody ripped big holes in their pants from sliding on the rocks," she said. "But I made a lot of new friends who were all Girl Scouts."

The next trip for Koeller and her fellow scouts will be a Jan. 17 ski trip to the Cascade Mountains of Wisconsin.

"Because the council wants these girls to have these great experiences, we subsidize the costs for some of the girls; and the cookie sales help cover that," Redford said.

Teresa Ruppel, a former Girl Scout and mother of 15-year-old scout Morgan Ruppel of Jackson, said the trips and activities are invaluable for building self-confidence.

"My daughter has so many more opportunities than I did," she said. "Because not only do they camp, but they go rock climbing, canoeing and backpacking. There are just so many fabulous opportunities offered to the girls here that they can't get any other place."

While the price of the cookies has increased over the decades to $3 a box and newer flavors have been introduced, some things never change.

"The thin mints are still the most popular," said scout Kaitlin Bell, 13, of Jackson. "I know a lot of people like them, and because of their size there are more in a box."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160

Want a cookie?

The Girl Scout Otahki Council annual cookie sale runs through Jan. 27.

Cost is $3 per box.

To order, contact the council at 334-7741.

Tasty varieties include:

- Lemon Pastry Cremes

- Peanut Butter Patties

- Shortbread

- Caramel deLites

- Friendship Circles

- Peanut Butter Sandwich

- Animal Treasures

- Thin Mints