GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SALES EXPLAINED

Girl scouting's annual tradition -- cookie sales -- was a subject Thursday night on a nationally broadcast news show.

"Eye to Eye with Connie Chung" questioned the profits girls and their individual troops receive from their efforts.

Elsie Miller, executive director of the local Otahki Girl Scout Council, said: "I think it's sad when something like this, to a certain amount, is blown out of proportion. It takes away from the good stuff we do for girls."

The complaint started with a disgruntled troop leader in a council in Connecticut, Miller said.

The Girl Scouts organization is actually made up of 331 different councils. Each operates mostly autonomously and each plans and executes its own cookie sales.

Miller explained that in the Otahki Council, a volunteer committee sets the guidelines, including when the cookies will be sold, the selling price, and how the proceeds will be divided.

"Our cookies still sell for $2.25 a package," said Miller. "We are among the last 20 or 30 councils still selling cookies for $2 or $2.25. A lot of councils are higher than that."

The troops receive 30 cents for every package they sell. That money can be used however the troop leaders decide. The council has 252 troops.

The Otahki Council pays about 86 cents per package to the baker. That price varies for different councils, Miller explained. St. Louis, for example, gets a cheaper rate because they order more cookies.

The 86 cents pays for ingredients, baking, and packaging and delivery to central points in the council.

One cent from each box goes to an assistance fund, something like a scholarship fund, for girl scouts who need financial assistance with membership dues, uniform pieces and handbooks.

The rest is used by the council. Miller said some is used for administrative costs. The bulk of the $1.08 cents per package is used for troop leader recruitment and training and program events for girls, she said.

The local Otahki Council started its cookie sale Jan. 14 and it wraps up Sunday. Miller said the final compilation of orders is not due in until Feb. 11. Last year 164,861 packages were sold in the Otahki Council.

"One of our big problems today is finding volunteer troop leaders. If we could recruit more leaders we could serve more girls," Miller said.

She said the council offers a variety of different programs and events for girl scouts. "When girls pay $5 for a council program or event, the leaders may believe that covers the cost. Most of the time, it covers maybe half or a third. The rest is made up with these funds," Miller said.

"We like to see the whole cookie sale as more than just fund-raising," Miller said. "We hope that troop leaders use the opportunity to do some budgeting and long-range planning."