It appears Kitimat’s local retailers’ efforts have paid off with regard to helping out the local girl guide troop after they found themselves unable to do in-person cookie sales this year.
After announcing they were sitting on nearly 800,000 boxes of cookies in late March, Girl Guides of Canada has said they have sold “virtually all” of their cookies in the Province.
The shift comes after a number of retailers stepped up to start selling the iconic cookies — first sold in Canada in 1927 in Saskatchewan — to help supplement the sales, which are used to fund various Girl Guide activities and provide training within the organization.
Girl Guides Canada announced on March 13 it would be suspending all in-person guiding experiences for girls, including cookie sales.
READ MORE: Cookie monsters rejoice as B.C. stores sell Girl Guide sweets
Diamond Isinger, Provincial Commissioner for Girl Guides of Canada in B.C., told the Kitimat Northern Sentinel that the partnership with retailers has been essential in helping to provide some revenue for the organization to eventually resume activities when it is safe to do so.
“Our girls could not safely sell in public,” she said, highlighting the seriousness of the situation and the benefit of having retailers pick up some of the slack. “We have been able to partner with these supportive retailers to get our cookies into the hands of customers.”
A number of cookies were shipped to members before social distancing measures were put into place, and the organization has said members may sell cookies directly as long as no violation of pandemic protocols happen.
But Isinger added the ability to sell in more “normal” places like grocery stores (where girls currently can not set up outside of due to the aforementioned protocols) has really been a boost, saying that the numbers don’t lie.
She said the Girl Guides of Canada had approximately 66,000 cases of cookies in the province. With twelve boxes to a case, that’s nearly 800,000 boxes of cookies or approximately 16 per cent of the population purchasing one. Isinger said virtually all have sold at this point.
She added that while the stores have played a big role, a shoutout also has to be given to all the individual donors who purchased large amounts of cookies to be donated to various destinations like food banks and healthline workers.
While the Girl Guides of Canada have currently discontinued all their in-person activities, they have been hosting a number of virtual events in an effort to keep members connected and engaged. These include “virtual campfire” sessions and live events hosted by various role models. Additionally, Isinger said many troops have found ways to hold virtual meetings within their group.
The following is a list of B.C. retailers currently stocking Girl Guide cookies at their stores:
- Buy-Low Foods
- Canadian Tire
- Choices Markets
- Country Grocer
- Four Rivers Co-operative
- FreshCo.
- Fresh St Market
- IGA
- JOEY Restaurants
- London Drugs
- Meridian Meats
- Nesters Market
- No Frills
- Otter Co-op
- Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar
- Safeway
- Save-On-Foods
- 7-Eleven
- Thrifty Foods
- Quality Foods
- 49th Parallel Grocery