Kalamazoo is an amazing city where everyone from big corporations, to small business owners, to the stranger walking down the street next to you can all come together to help out the community. While Kalamazoo has many events throughout the year that bring the community together, there is one topic that everyone can agree on- Girl Scout Cookies! You read that right- an entire event dedicated America’s favorite cookies, and for a great cause. The age-old question remains, which cookie is YOUR favorite? Samoa’s? Thin Mints? Let’s be honest, there isn’t a Girl Scout Cookie out there that I haven’t liked!
Like every year, the Girl Scout Cookie Bake-Off brings together local chefs in a friendly competition to create a unique version of their favorite cookie, held downtown Kalamazoo at The Radisson Hotel. This event supports Girl Scout outreach to low-income and at-risk girls in the community.
Today the Girl Scout organization is 2.6 million strong – 1.8 million girls and over 800,000 adults who believe in every G.I.R.L. ( Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader) to change the world. The extraordinary journey began more than 100 years ago with the original G.I.R.L., Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low. On March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, she organized the very first Girl Scout troop. Every year since, her vision and legacy is honored by building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. With programs from coast to coast and across the globe, Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success.
If you weren’t able to make it to this year’s event, here is some additional information on how you can donate, or even participate in next years event. Your support of this event directly helps local Girl Scout initiatives and outreach programming and troops at: Spring Valley, Boys and Girls Club, Douglas Community Center, Edison, Harrington Elementary, LaMora Park, Mayor’s Riverfront Park, Woods Lake Elementary, and PrairieRidge Elementary. Outreach funding will ensure that ALL girls will have the opportunity to become Girl Scouts. Outreach programming provides safe places and resources to girls who are faced with growing up too fast. Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan brings the benefits of Girl Scouting to those girls who need us most.
Your donation of:
$10,000 gives 500 girls the opportunity to engage in the Girl Scout Experience
$5,000 helps provide outreach programming at three sites and sends a group of girls to camp
$2,500 sends an outreach troop to camp for the experience of a lifetime
$1,000 provides registration fees for 30 girls in outreach programming
$500 helps recruit and train outreach troop facilitators
$350 helps provide curriculum and supplies for 10 girls in outreach program
Individual tickets to the event are $55 per person or $400 for a table.
Now for some fun facts on your favorite Girl Scout Cookies!
Did you know that those highly regarded cookies are made from TWO different bakeries? ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers. The look, taste, packaging, and name of each cookie may differ slightly depending on where (across the country) you buy them. Each of the 111 Girl Scout councils across the nation determines which bakery they partner with. Who knew?!
Thin Mints created by ABC Bakers are crunchier with a heavier mint flavor. Meanwhile, Thin Mints created by Little Brownie Bakers have a richer chocolate coating and more “distinct” peppermint taste.
Samoa’s made by ABC Bakers have less caramel and more cookie, compared to its counterpart made by Little Brownie Bakers, sports a heavier caramel, dark chocolate, and coconut layer.
It all started in Oklahoma. In 1917 a troop in Muskogee, OK kicked things off by baking simple sugar cookies and selling them in their high school cafeteria. The rest of the county started to join in after their recipe was shared in the American Girl magazine in 1922.
The first official Girl Scout Cookie sale took place in Philly in 1933 and you could snag of a box of 44 cookies for $.23 cents!
You can find all of the Cookie recipes on the Girl Scout Website and make them at home.
All proposed Cookies must be approved by the national Girl Scout organization, and can change each year, but THREE are non-negotiable: Thin Mints, Do-Si-Do’s and Shortbread.
There really is a “Cookie Queen” , Elizabeth Brinton, and she still holds the record at more than 100,000 boxes, with clients that include 2 former presidents!
You can find the ORIGINAL Girl Scout Cookie recipe on their website (see below).
Girl Scout cookies bring in $700 Million in revenue each year since 1999.
All of the girls pictured on the cookie packages are registered Girl Scouts or Girl Scout alumni.
There is an app you can download to find the nearest place to find Girl Scout cookies called the ‘Girl Scout Cookie Finder App’ and you should probably download it immediately.
Thin Mints were originally called ‘Cooky-Mints’ . Thin Mints didn’t make their debut until 1959.
Thin Mints are THE top-selling Girl Scout Cookie in America. Little Brownie Bakers make over 4.5 Million Thin Mints a day during prime baking season.
There is a NEW Cookie being introduced this year called Lemonades and Lemon-Ups (in select areas).
The Girl Scout organization will be 108 years old this year.
So the next time you buy your box of Thin Mints, just remember what’s inside the box is super tasty, but it’s the amazing experiences that happen outside the cookie box that make Girl Scout Cookies extra special. When you purchase Girl Scout Cookies, you’re helping the next generation of young female entrepreneurs get an important taste of what it takes to be successful, work as a team, plan, and have a positive outlook. If you want to read more about the Girl Scouts or the cookies, visit www.girlscouts.org.
