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Local Girl Scout Cookie Sales Top $1.1 Million
 | | --Photo By Keith Hagarty Over 7,000 cases containing 84,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies were distributed last week alone from the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore's program activity center in Farmingdale, where dozens of staff and volunteers, including (l-r) mothers Carolyn Early, of Troop 1861, and Donna Tornich, of Troop 954, rolled up their sleeves to satisfy the area's cookie cravings. For more photos from this event, visit our photo galleries at www.micromediapubs.com. |
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HOWELL - Who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies?
Apparently not too many in the greater Monmouth and Ocean County area, with Girl Scout cookie sales soaring since the start of the year. With three weeks of sales remaining, the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore have already sold more than 1,117,000 boxes; raising over $1.1 million.
About 12,000 girls from the area are participating in the sale, with order taking getting underway in early February. On average, every girl participating in the program has sold 95 boxes while learning financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills.
"Good enthusiasm from the leaders and the girls was the key part of the formula for success," says Donna Tornich, the Howell cookie coordinator. In Howell alone, Girl Scouts have sold 7,000 cases, or 84,000 boxes of cookies so far.
Sales will continue to take place throughout the month of March with booth sales being held throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Money raised through the cookie sale helps underwrite the cost of programs for all girls, as well as trips for older girl members. In 2008 and 2009, local Girl Scouts will be traveling to Europe, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Florida with assistance from money raised through cookie sales.
This year, cookie sales have not just benefited Girl Scouts in the area, they are also providing assistance to those in need.
For the first time, customers have been able to purchase boxes of cookies for the Girl Scout Gift of Caring. So far, more than 440 boxes will all be donated to the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. The food bank provides assistance to the working poor and others who need food in Ocean and Monmouth counties. Approximately 40 percent of the families it serves have young children.
"It's because of partnerships in the community with organizations like the Girl Scouts, the food bank can continue to offer our charities a wide variety of food
to meet all their needs," says Ellen Koment,
media coordinator for the food bank. "The Girl Scouts are helping us continue
to feed the needs of the community. This is an example to the community how everyone can help the food bank, beginning with children helping children."
Serving more than 70,000 people in Monmouth and Ocean counties, the food bank distributes almost 3.5 million pounds of emergency food annually to 250 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other programs throughout the neighboring counties.
Poverty is the major cause of hunger, and has risen to 6.3 percent, from five percent, in Monmouth County, and is now up to seven percent, from six percent, in Ocean County, according to statistics from the food bank. Between 1990 and 2000, the last time data was collected, poverty among children increased from 6.5 percent to 9.9 percent in Monmouth County, and from 8.8 percent to 13.3 percent in Ocean County.
"The Gift of Caring program provides customers an opportunity to do a good deed while helping girls to meet their goals," says Stacey Surguy, director of program. "In the spirit of community service, the Gift of Caring program teaches everyone, especially girls, about giving to those that are less fortunate."
This year's newest entry into the Girl Scout cookie offerings are the sugar free chocolate chip cookies and the lemon chalet crémes. To date, the top-selling cookie remains the Thin Mint, a chocolate covered mint wafer, garnering 26 percent of sales, followed by the Samoa, a vanilla cookie covered with caramel, rolled in toasted coconut, and striped with a rich, chocolaty coating, representing 19 percent of total cookie sales.
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