Girl Scouts Honor First Responders By Steering Cookie Sales Their Way

CHICAGO (CBS) -- When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Girl Scouts had a few weeks left in their cookie selling season. With thousands of cases on hand, the Girl Scouts of Chicago and Northwest Indiana had to come up with some creative sales techniques.

With everyone sheltering in place, open air pop up booth sites were created with sidewalk chalk doing the advertising. Contactless pickup and delivery has been available, too, for those ordering online to observe social distancing.

There's also been a tremendous effort to thank first responders.

Many people have reached out through online ordering to connect with local troops asking that their money be used to purchase cookies for first responders.

The end result was a lot of satisfied first responders.

Evanston Girl Scout Ambika Barrows delivered cookies to a firefighter in Evanston for the department to enjoy. Troops crafted thank you cards for first responders to show their appreciation for their work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot spoke with troop leader Julia Jones and her daughter Michelle Mann along with the CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, Nancy Wright, about the effort.

"Right now, people are looking for a way to give back to our first responders, for everything that they're doing, for all of us," said Wright. "At Girl Scouts our primary focus is to make the world a better place and what better way to do that than to give first responders some of their favorite Girl Scout cookies? It touches their heart and warms up their day."

Jones said they sold 150 boxes over a two day period.

"People were hungry for something that they love," she said. "They wanted to support something great, and Girl Scouts is that. And a lot of people did donate and ask the boxes be shared with first responders as well."

Michelle is glad to be able to continue selling.

"It's great! It's a fun experience, too. We got 150 cookies over two days. That really helps us achieve our goals and help the community," she said.

The money from the cookie sales help to fund trips and create experiences for the Girl Scouts in their community and even around the world. To connect with a Girl Scout troop to get cookies in your area go to this link: https://www.girlscoutsgcnwi.org/en/cookies/about-girl-scout-cookies.html.