Letter to the Editor: Try Recovery Inc.’s methods for coping with depression or anxiety

web1_BLOTTER.jpg

Police: Man taken into custody following robbery

<p>The Girl Scout Cookie Program adds weight to business lessons, not to bathroom scales, as Scouts learn e-commerce and direct sales skills.</p><p>The Girl Scout cookie has rolled away from its humble beginnings in 1917 in Wisconsin when young girls first baked and sold their cookies to fund troop activities.</p><p>Today&#8217;s Girl Scout Cookie Program focuses on a multitude of business basics, including face-to-face and digital sales, said Suzanne Moore, chief operations officer at Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania.</p><p>&#8220;The Girls Scouts in the early 1900s probably didn&#8217;t know that selling cookies would turn into the largest girl-led business in the world or that they would be paving the way for girls to learn business skills,&#8221; Moore said.</p><p><strong>Business 101</strong></p><p>In the 30-county region covered by the Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania that covers Susquehanna County to Centre County to Lancaster County sold a total of 1,654,788 boxes of cookies in 2015 and donated 20,484 boxes to military personnel stationed overseas through Project Cookie Jar, Moore said.</p><p>That kind of sales volume took a lot of work and effort by 17,000 Scouts, some of whom are as young as 5, she said.</p><p>Taylor Grochowski, a member of Wilkes-Barre area Girl Scout Troop 32817, sold 2,000 boxes, earning her the title of top seller in 2015.</p><p>Twelve-year-old Grochowski attributed some of her sales to the online Digital Cookie Program introduced for the 2015 cookie season.</p><p>The Digital Cookie Program provides Scouts an opportunity to invite family and friends to place cookie orders through their individual web page, Moore said.</p><p>&#8220;Girls today are used to the digital world,&#8221; Moore said.</p><p>Grochowski found the Digital Cookie Program easy to use last year but noted the platform had glitches.</p><p>This year&#8217;s e-commerce site is improved to give young girls the ability for &#8220;more personalization of their online page, access to improved Girl Scout Cookie sales data, charts highlighting their progress in reaching goals and a dashboard featuring week-to-week trends,&#8221; Moore said.</p><p>&#8220;Girls can set their cookie goals, track their progress, manage orders and inventory, learn Internet safety skills and more,&#8221; Moore said, &#8220;all while they earn age-specific Cookie Business badges and explore ways to help others by investing their earnings back into their communities.&#8221;</p><p>The online platform allowed Grochowski to sell to friends and family who live out-of-state. But the majority of her sales were obtained by the traditional Girl Scout Cookie Booth she promoted through social media.</p><p>&#8220;My mom and I would post on Facebook where my cookie booth would be and from what time we would be there,&#8221; Grochowski said.</p><p>To aid in the girls&#8217; success, the Girl Scouts in the Heart Land of Pennsylvania offers an app called the Cookie Locator to help patrons find cookie booths. The app is compatible with both Android and iPhone devices.</p><p><strong>Fine ingredients</strong></p><p>A seventh-grade student at Bear Creek Community Charter School, Grochowski has worked on perfecting her business plan since she was in kindergarten.</p><p>&#8220;I like selling cookies and talking to different people,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The young Scout has learned to be aware of her bottom line so she can fund certain activities for the Scout year.</p><p>This year, Grochowski has two trips in site &#8212; one to Wildwood, New Jersey, and a second to Kalahari Resorts at Pocono Manor, her mother, Stacey, said.</p><p>Grochowski earns between 65 to 75 cents for every box sold. With each box costing $4 and gluten-free Toffee-tastic costing $5 each, she set a goal to sell 1,200 boxes.</p><p>She noted she lowered her goal this year because her grandmother also helped last year.</p><p>&#8220;Sadly, she died last year,&#8221; Grochowski said.</p><p>Experienced has proven to Grochowski that Trefoils and Thin Mints are the top-selling flavors. Common courtesy, she said, goes a long way.</p><p>&#8220;Always smile and say thank you, even if people don&#8217;t want to buy any cookies,&#8221; Grochowski said. &#8220;You can&#8217;t let people bother you.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_girlscoutcookies01-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Taylor Grochowski, a member of Wilkes-Barre Girl Scout Troop 32817, prepares for another successful cookie sales season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_girlscoutcookies01-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Taylor Grochowski, a member of Wilkes-Barre Girl Scout Troop 32817, prepares for another successful cookie sales season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_girlscoutcookies03-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre area Girl Scout Taylor Grochowski designs a poster to promote her cookie sales campaign. The Girl Scout Cookie Program kicked off Jan. 11. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_girlscoutcookies03-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes-Barre area Girl Scout Taylor Grochowski designs a poster to promote her cookie sales campaign. The Girl Scout Cookie Program kicked off Jan. 11. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Girl-Scout-cookies-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The 2016 Girl Scout Cookie Program provides area Scouts the opportunity to gain e-commerce and direct sales experience. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Girl-Scout-cookies-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>The 2016 Girl Scout Cookie Program provides area Scouts the opportunity to gain e-commerce and direct sales experience. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Girl Scouts gain experience through cookie program</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eileen Godin</p><p>egodin@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Girl Scout Cookie dates:</strong></p><p>&#8226; The Girl Scout 2016 Cookie Program and Digital Cookie 2.0 began Jan. 11.</p><p>&#8226; National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend is Feb. 26-28.</p><p>Patrons can find a local Girl Scout Cookie booth by visiting <a href="http://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/cookies.html" target="_blank">www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/cookies.html</a>.</p><p>&#8226; Cookie sales will end March 27.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Girl Scouts gain business experience through cookie program