Pandemic Is Forcing Girl Scouts To Get Creative During Cookie Season

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Whether you're team Thin Mint or team Shortbread, cookie lovers alike will be happy to hear Girl Scout cookie season is almost here. But how will the scouts pull it off while staying safe from COVID-19?

Six-year-old Eva Frank is a newly-minted Girl Scout, and she can't wait to sell cookies. While scouts normally go door-to-door every year selling their irresistible cookies, this year more sales will be done online -- and you can even order on Grubhub.

"So either I do a Zoom call or I FaceTime them with my family and friends and I show them all of the kinds and tell them," Eva Frank said.

Mom Sara Frank says her daughter's introduction to the scouts is nothing like what girls have experienced before.

"Everybody's having to be so much more creative," Sara Frank said.

That's not a problem for 10-year-old Tabitha Durbin, who makes videos to sell cookies every year. It's a tactic she'll have to use in the age of social distancing.

"My goal is 300 boxes," Durbin said. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that my dad is going to eat them all."

Scouts can send an ecard or unique link to friends and family to get credit for online sales. They can also choose to take contactless payments and do porch drop-offs.

If you don't know a scout, you can text "Cookies" to 59618 and have them shipped to your door. Local troops benefit from those sales, too. Or you can use the Cookies Finder at girlscoutsrv.org/cookies. And you'll still see smaller groups outside at stores like Cub Foods, earning their cookie badge one box at a time.

Some sales start Feb. 6, and others roll out Feb. 20. You can also donate to the Cookie Care Program when you buy a box, which goes to food shelves, school lunch programs and healthcare workers.