PRESQUE ISLE, Maine— Sarah Wentworth of Presque Isle can still remember the six years she spent as a Girl Scout.
Now 47, the Presque Isle resident said she grew up in a military family and spent time as a Brownie and a Girl Scout in both Boulder, Colorado, and Presque Isle.
“I had the time of my life doing that stuff,” she recalled Monday. “I was a fantastic cookie salesperson and went to Girl Scout camp four years in a row.”
While she does not have a daughter to involve in scouting, Wentworth said that her nieces in both Houlton and Virginia Beach, Virginia, are involved. From what she has seen, she noted, the annual sales of cookies have “come a long way.”
“I just remember what a chore it was at times, especially in the winter, to go door to door at night after school or sports and trying to sell the cookies,” she said. “My mother wouldn’t let me go alone, so either she or my older brother always had to work it into their schedule. Now, the girls can sell the cookies online without having to leave the house, in some cases.”
Prior to the invention of the internet, Girl Scouts across the state and country often sold the cookies door to door or by appealing to colleagues in a parent’s workplace.
“In some ways, I think that was unfair,” said Wentworth. “If a child lived in a rural area or their parents worked in a small office, they were at a disadvantage to a kid who lived in a larger area and had parents working in a huge office or factory. The chances were better that they would sell the most cookies, and the more cookies you sold, the more prizes you received. I remember one of my favorite prizes was a huge book about the National Park System. The first thing I did when I learned that we were moving to Maine was to look into that book, and Acadia National Park was in the first chapter or so.”
Girl Scouts also can use apps to set up individual pages to sell cookies, and customers can use them to find sales in their area.
Hailey Suitter of Houlton, a current member of Girl Scout Troop 2060 in Houlton, said she and her fellow troop members sell cookies both door to door and online now.
“I have been a Girl Scout for six years,” she said. “I sell most of my cookies door to door. I like it better that way, because I get more exercise.”
She believes that her fellow Scouts enjoy selling the cookies online.
Suitter spends “about two to three hours a week on sales” and the most she has ever sold in a campaign was 350 boxes.
All proceeds remain in the state to benefit local girls, and a portion directly funds the troops and any other activities the members plan.
Last year, Suitter and her troop used the money they earned to take a trip to Washington, D.C.
If the troop earns enough money this year, the members would like to go to New York City, she said.
Amy Suitter, Hailey’s mother, said the girls also earn patches depending on the amount of sales and the type of sales.
“If you sell a certain number of boxes, you get a participation patch,” said Suitter. “You can also earn patches based on online sales.”
The famous cookie campaign is the primary source of funding for the organization, according to the Girl Scouts of Maine website.
Cookie sales will continue through the end of January, according to Suitter. Customers also will find cookie booths set up at certain locations through April.
