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Yum girl scout cookies! I always buy a couple boxes I make a mean oreo brownie and I'm really looking forward to adapting the recipe this year with samoas
As far as my son's fundraisers I only pass the flyer around if I actually like what they are selling (ie that wrapping paper catalog never sees the light of day) and usually only to other parents or work friends with the opening line being "you don't have to buy anything, seriously".
Last christmas I did harrass the heck out of everyone I knew for a fundraiser--a department store was donating $1 for each letter to santa they recieved. I was all over it and I did ask people multiple times until they wrote the letter but since it wasn't costing people anything I didn't feel bad asking.
Btw, girl scouts sell a fall product now too, which was not something we did when my dd was in scouts. The product is actually very good here. It's Ashdon farms nuts and fruits. They sell magazines too, but the kids don't actually handle the money for that. It's done by email or written orders and the company bills the folks and delivers the magazines. I tend not to buy magazines. I do like the nuts and fruit though.
Girl scouts does NOT require anyone to sell though the troop gets a good profit from both fall product and cookie sales. Your daughter would get the patch, btw, if you buy one box yourself (and gs cookies are just sooooooo good).
As for a disability not allowing a child to sell things, I wonder what disability would prevent going to a cookie booth (which means her troop would be selling and she would be there even if she did not say a word).
There are so many ways to sell cookies - and their magazine recently features a girl - I don't remember her disability. I do remember that she couldn't speak and was in a wheelchair. I believe it might've been Cerebal Palsy. Her troop outsold every other troop in the area for booth sales. The article had a photo where she was in her uniform, present for each and every booth sale.
At any rate, you do not have to sell anything for girl scouts. You can just not sign the permission slip and not sell. She would not get the patch if you did that, but it's only one patch.
The rest of the girls are 'punished' when this happens, as the troop is given funds based on "box per girl". The troop usually gets between 50 and 75 cents per box sold, dependent on how many boxes in that troop are sold total. If you have no intention of selling cookies, make her a Juliette and ask the troop if she can participate, with you at her side. If she's not capable of selling cookies, you'll have to be at her side for most GS activities anyway, right?
When it's time to do any activity/craft, rather than have the troop use the money the other girls raised via cookie sales, you could just pay your daughter's share for the supplies or other fees outright.
BTW - if she does not participate in cookie sales, she will not be eligible for financial aid from GS.
Just to be clear, SOME girl scout councils & BS Get TAX payer Grants/Contracts, Not all but Some. To run some programs. Maybe life skills, maybe afterschool tutoring. But they get Tax (Government) Grants, and contracts to do programs.
If you have no intention of selling cookies, make her a Juliette and ask the troop if she can participate, with you at her side. If she's not capable of selling cookies, you'll have to be at her side for most GS activities anyway, right?
What is a Juliette? OK the reason my dd can't sell is because she can't talk to people but she can be at a booth. I just thought each girl has to sell cookies on their own, I didn't know about booths.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sskkc
BTW - if she does not participate in cookie sales, she will not be eligible for financial aid from GS.
Ah, the memories doing the fundraisers as a kid - and my Mom absolutely refused to take anything to her work (which I agree with). So it was door-to-door for me and I would think I did pretty well.....but the kids who always won the prizes for "sales" were the ones whose parents took the forms into their work and then those kids would brag and laugh that they didn't have to go to one house at all!
Gee, wonder why I hate "fundraisers" as an adult??
So, if a kid does come to my door, I will try to at least make a donation if nothing they're selling interests me. I understand how uncomfortable it is for a kid to ask strangers to buy something and I like to reward the effort.
As for fundraising forms left at work - sorry, no sale! And if that makes me Eva Perron hoarding from the masses, so be it!
This is a pretty crappy system, that so many of you parents feel forced into this. Is there an alternative for the schools?
I don't know why parents are doing this. Instead see it as a learning opportunity for their children. Let the kids try and make the sale. Let them learn how to interact with others. Let them learn how to close a sales deal. Let them learn how to make a monetary transaction. The parents can source the leads and have the children follow up with the sale.
What is a Juliette?
A Juliette is an Individually Registered Scout. Basically any girl can be a Girl Scout even if they can't find a troop. You can do badge work, sell fall products, sell cookies, take trips, ect all by yourself. Personally, I think this defeats the purpose...but that is my opinion, as a Troop Leader. You can also work with a troop and do things with them. I have heard alot of girls that Juliette's do this.
OK the reason my dd can't sell is because she can't talk to people but she can be at a booth. I just thought each girl has to sell cookies on their own, I didn't know about booths.
If she can be at a booth, she can be considered to be selling. Although I require my girls to do the selling, I don't have girls that have disabilities. Whatever it takes is what you do as far as girls and booths are concerned. I would be happy that y'all were there if it was my troop. Good Luck and Happy Selling!!!
We don't need financial aid.
I wish I could say that for my girls. 98% of the new girls I sign up need FA. The ones that came back from last year out of 15, only 2 required FA for anything and that was because they didn't sell MUCH, but they did participate.
Have fun in Girl Scouts, It's Your Life, Live It!!!!!
I don't know why parents are doing this. Instead see it as a learning opportunity for their children. Let the kids try and make the sale. Let them learn how to interact with others. Let them learn how to close a sales deal. Let them learn how to make a monetary transaction. The parents can source the leads and have the children follow up with the sale.
A lot of the fundraising companies (maybe b/c of liability) specify the kids should not do door-to-door sales.
GS does what you propose.
With GS it is a very structured sales campaign. I was cookie mom and I had to teach the girls how to do it - safety briefing was required and etiquette was also taught. Different ages had different rules for where the parent was required to be. And so on... It was very well done and cookie sales are considered a learning experience for the girls in all aspects that you mention. From marketing to giving thank you notes for the sale to new member recruitment, they learn it all.
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I make a mean oreo brownie and I'm really looking forward to adapting the recipe this year with samoas 
And if that makes me Eva Perron hoarding from the masses, so be it!
