Coronavirus In Pennsylvania: Local Girl Scouts Donate Unsold Cookies To Frontline Workers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Girl Scouts annual cookie sales took a hit this spring because of the COVID-19 health concerns. Now they are trying to turn their unsold Lemon Up's into lemonade – so to speak.
Stefanie Marshall of Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania says local troops have an unusual problem this year: "They are left with the cookies that they couldn't sell and the proceeds that they weren't able to get."
That means a lot of lost dough for all their unsold Do-Si-Do's.
"Booth sales is one of the most exciting times the Girl Scout cookie season, and a lot of girls you know have set aside those weekends," says Marshall.
The girls love "to be able to participate in their troop to learn the amazing skills that they learned through boost sales like money management people skills."
But when the face-to-face cookie sales were wiped out this year, the scouts have a lot of left-over inventory.
The Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania offered a virtual buy-back of a couple thousand cases of unsold cookies.
The good news is local troops don't have to eat the losses. The bad news is the Girl Scouts are now looking for donors to help ease the financial crunch after their cookies sales crumbled.
"It's a great philanthropic lesson to allow the girls to take a look at their community and the state that they're in right now," claims Marshall.
"They can find the way that they can help and to be able to send a sweet thank you to the people who probably need it most right now and that's the COVID-19 frontline workers. "
It is called Hometown Heroes. Troops are giving cookies to EMS workers, to doctors and nurses and to local cops.
Marshall appreciates the irony that one troop chose to donate cookies to the Pitt lab where they're working on the coronavirus vaccine. "Hey, if the coronavirus vaccine is powered by Girl Scout cookies, I think we'd all be okay with that."
If you would like to donate, you can go here and make a contribution there. Or you can call the GSA customer care team at 1-800-248-3355.
Nearly 300 Girl Scout troops participating in Hometown Heroes.