By Janet Donovan

Special to the Bethlehem Press

It’s cookie season in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania – the third during this COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. When COVID-19 struck in 2020, the girls provided Girl Scout Cookies to their customers through creative and innovative ways, despite the lockdowns. The business community shared in helping those efforts. They learned about how to take their cookie business digital and how to create opportunities for contactless delivery. The second year, in 2021, they built on those skills, and many troops focused on Gifts of Caring to support the first responders and deployed military. This year, Girl Scouts, along with the rest of the nation, are learning about supply chain.

Recent national media attention about the Girl Scouts highlighted some of the production challenges that councils are experiencing regarding the cookie program. Although Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania haven’t been immune to supply chain and labor issues, they are working diligently with the girls, volunteers and customers to ensure positive outcomes for membership and for those they serve.

This is also an important time to remember that not every Girl Scout council is affected in the same way. Cookie program seasons, consumer preferences and production schedules all factor into the mix.

GSHPA was informed by their baker, Little Brownie Bakers, earlier this year that they were experiencing production delays that may impact the availability of some types of cookies. Specifically, they have reduced S’mores and Adventurefuls cookies from the online order system due to demand. To learn more about digital orders from Girl Scouts you can visit our GSHPA site. In-person cookie booth sales will begin in March.

Girl Scouts can and will rise to meet any challenge. They don’t have to look that far back into the past to see how girls have proved time and again their resiliency when faced with adversity and challenges.

Let us also look beyond the cookie program, because the council – our volunteers, our members and our staff – never stopped providing key programming, interpersonal connections and outdoor experiences when most in-person contact was limited during the pandemic. Those connections provided countless positive outcomes for the girls during a very unsettling time.

Fast forward to present day and the girls are only just getting started with their 2022 cookie goals, which are already exceeding last year.

They are doing everything possible to ensure every Girl Scout can bring their beloved cookies to their customers. Supporting entrepreneurship efforts can be as easy as picking up some of your old favorites or trying something new this year. All proceeds from cookie sales remain local, with troops or the council, and girls will need community support and patience as they work to conquer this next challenge to their cookie businesses. Thank you for supporting the youngest entrepreneurs on their pandemic business journey!

It’s important to note that they are grateful to have a strong and resilient GSHPA community. Your support allows the Girl Scouts to enjoy future success.

Janet Donovan is the president and CEO of Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania, which represents 30 counties in central and northeast Pennsylvania.