BOZEMAN — Starting this weekend, Girl Scout Brownie Troop 3509 in Bozeman will be selling cookies to eager customers at locations across town—and it's all thanks to the hard work of the Brownies and a dedicated team of volunteers.
“How many cookies do you think you guys are gonna sell?” I asked Troop 3509.
“3,500!”
And at around $5 a box, these second-graders are raking in some good cash.
I met up with Girl Scout Brownie Troop 3509 as they showed off their artistic skills by making cookie sale signs that will be used throughout the next few weeks.
“What kind of cookies do you guys sell?”
“Peanut Butter Patties, Adventurefuls, Peanut butter sandwich, and the Toast-Yays," the troop tells me as they show off their decorative cookie signs.
And those are just some of the fan favorites you'll be able to buy this weekend. Troop 3509 will be posted in front of Columbo's Pizza Friday, March 22, from 4-8 p.m. The next morning, Saturday the 23rd, they will be at Cupcake Mountain Cupcakery from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
And as for the brains behind everyone getting these beloved treats?
“We are all volunteers, no one is paying us. It’s Tennia, and it’s me, and there's three other people helping us,” says Christiana Weiss, the mother of a Girl Scout and one of the few volunteers handling the Belgrade cookie delivery.
Tuesday morning, Christiana, Tennia Lode, and their team of five Belgrade volunteers received the cookie delivery. Alone, they unloaded each stack off of a semi-truck using a skid steer.
“We're working super hard. We have 2800 cases—not just packages—2800 cases to sort out and get ready for our troops to pick up this evening” said Christiana.
That's 34,000 cookies, just for the city of Belgrade. And if that seems like a lot, take a look at the state-wide numbers:
Girl Scouts of Montana sold approximately 700,000 boxes last year, earning about $3.5 million. After about 28% is paid back to the bakers, every penny goes right back into the program, supporting Girl Scout adventures.
“'We can go on fun adventures,' 'Like girl scout camp,' 'and get more cookies!'” says the troop.
And don’t worry about cookies going bad—any leftover boxes are gifted to charities such as the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. And anyone can donate cookies to the troop’s "hometown hero" as well.
For Troop 3509, their hometown hero is the Cancer Support Community, in honor of Judi Haskins, a breast cancer survivor and mother of one of the Girl Scouts in the troop.
