Left Hand Valley Courier - All Local, All The Time

Every winter, there’s a good chance you’ll see young girls outside of your local grocery stores and similar establishments selling cookies. Scouts are encouraged to sell as many boxes of cookies as they can, but there can be significant variance in sales between different troops and different individuals. This year, the highest seller in the local troop, number 70658, was Francesca Fowler, sitting pretty at 1,288 boxes sold.

Francesca said that while she “wanted a challenge,” she was also drawn to the prize for selling 1,000 boxes - a hammock. This year she sold in front of King Soopers, Niwot Market, and Sam’s Club. While at Sam’s Club it started raining, and she was forced to move the stand a number of times.

According to the top seller, the best part of the experience was “that we made new friends.” With her help, the troop will be able to visit Great Wolf Lodge, a waterpark and resort in Colorado Springs.

Deborah Read Fowler, Francesca’s mother, was glad to help her daughter achieve her goals, but made it equally clear that she wanted Francesca to shoulder most of the responsibility. Deborah said Francesca handled all the money, signed thank-you cards, and executed the sales.

Even with her daughter handling all she could and her son Oliver helping out, Deborah’s part wasn’t always easy. She drove Francesca where she needed to go and arranged the orders, all while running a full time real estate business. At one point, she reported, “Our whole floor was covered in [boxes of] cookies.”

All the same, for the Fowler family, the benefits outweigh the struggles. “I think it’s good for the community, good for her to learn good maths and good manners… sales tactics as well,” Deborah said. “The more effort you put in the more you get out.”

Francesca said she plans on selling cookies again the next year, even though she’ll be moving up to juniors, which is rumored to be much more challenging.

Beyond the learning opportunity that the cookie sales afford to girl scouts, it also brings in a lot of money for the organization. Since 1999, the estimated sales total for Girl Scout cookies comes to $700,000,000. One hundred percent of the profits from any one troop’s sales stay with local scouts to fund their continued adventures.

The organization aims to teach scouts to set goals, make careful decisions, make ethical choices concerning business and money, and learn how to be a leader.

Also, cookies were donated to Community Food Share.