2013GirlScoutCookies2

A tasty tradition for years, the Girl Scouts of Central Texas will begin their annual cookie sales Wednesday, January 16th through February 22nd.  According to Girl Scouts of America, this tradition started as early as 1917, in the homes and ovens of mothers of girl scouts.  Today, so many cookies are sold that they have two professional bakeries supplying their cookie inventory, Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers.

All of the favorite flavors will be available this year including Thanks-A-Lots, Lemonades, Shortbread, Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, Carmel deLites, and Peanut Butter Sandwiches.  A brand new cookie will also be available called Mango Crème.

Business principles such as goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and ethics are learned by Girl Scouts through cookie sales.  This program is just one part of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience.  Girl Scouts participate in many activities throughout the year and this is the reason cookie sales are limited to a 6-8 week period each year.

According to the Girl Scouts website, with every purchase, approximately 70% of the proceeds stays in the local Girl Scout service unit and with troops to provide a portion of the resources needed to support Girl Scouting in that area, including the portion that goes directly to the group selling the cookies. The balance goes to the baker to pay for the cookies.

Whether you like your thin mints frozen, your shortbread cookies for breakfast or if even you don’t plan to eat any due to dietary restrictions, a great thing to know about Girl Scout cookies is that you can support the military too by buying cookies to send to troops overseas.  Simply leave them with the girl scouts to donate for you in their Take-Action project or “gift of caring”, and its tax deductible as a charitable donation.   Additionally, customers may wish to donate cookies they have purchased from a Girl Scout to another qualified organization, which may qualify as a donation to the organization receiving the cookies and may therefore be tax-deductible.

Girl Scouts of Central Texas serves 20,000 girls, grades K-12, and 12,000 adult volunteers in 46 Central Texas counties. As the premier leadership organization for girls, GSCTX continues to provide outcome-based opportunities for Girl Scouts of all ages.

The Girl Scouts of Central Texas serves Brown County as well as Austin, Bastrop, Bell, Blanco, Bosque, Brazos, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Coke, Coleman, Colorado, Comanche, Concho, Coryell, Erath, Falls, Fayette, Gillespie, Grimes, Hamilton, Hays, Irion, Lampasas, Lee, Leon, Limestone, Llano, Madison, Mason, McCulloch, McLennan, Menard, Milam, Mills, Robertson, Runnels, San Saba, Schleicher, Sterling, Sutton, Tom Green, Travis, Washington and Williamson.

Pictured above are the redesigned boxes of cookies available from Girl Scouts in the Brown County area.  Below are many cases of cookies just waiting to be sold.

CookieCases