Girl Scouts of CT

We spoke with Girl Scouts of CT COO Kari Kaplan about the organizations 2025 cookie program.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Allison Demursam. My guest today is Cari Kaplan. She's COO
of the Girl Scouts of Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning, Good morning Alison. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Absolutely, I guess cookie season is in full force and
you're here to talk about that today.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yes, it's very exciting time in Connecticut. This past weekend
we had eighteen different locations across the state where we
delivered to our troops and our Girl Scouts that had
customer orders over one point one million packages of cookies.
So it's a very exciting time as our Girl Scouts

(00:40):
now hit the streets so to speak, and begin the
boothsale period of our cookie sale. We have Fin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs,
Dosie Does, Lemons, Ups Adventurefols, Toffee Tastic, which is our
gluten free cookie, and S'mores. Now this year, Smores is
reached hiring, so this will be the last cookie season

(01:03):
that our customers can purchase our s'more cookie now not Samoa's.
People get a little confused, but our Girl Scout's More
cookie is being retired and we do that. Our baker
does that so that we have flavors that come and
go to keep our cookie lineup fresh. So we've got
our old, tried and true, our sort of our five
cookies that everybody asks us about. And this again is

(01:26):
the last season for our Somores, which is going into retirement.
So this year our lineup is our strong one, and
we've got a cookie for everyone. Whether you like chocolate,
chocolate and peanut butter, just peanut butter, you like more
of a plane. Our trefoil is our shortbread cookie, whether
you need a gluten free cookie that's toffee tastic. There's
a cookie for everybody. And if cookies really aren't your thing,

(01:50):
but you want to support a Girl Scout, you can
also donate to our Cookies for Hero program and our
Cookies for Hero Program. Last year we had one hundred
and twenty thousand packages that were purchased by our customers
and we donate those to active and retired military men
and women, our local heroes across Connecticut and beyond. So

(02:14):
we're super proud of that program. And it's an opportunity
for people who like, well, I don't want to eat cookies.
I've decided I'm not a cookie eater, but they want
to support the Girl Scouts, because remember, it's not just
about that delicious cookie that you're buying, really about supporting
the Girl Scouts and the work that they do. And

(02:35):
that's really what the cookie program is about, you know,
cookie selling or our girl Scouts developing their cookie business
really provides them with an opportunity to learn some really
important skills, right, goal setting, decision making, business, business ethics,
money management, and of course people skills. Right, these are

(02:57):
all skills that help our Girl Scouts build confidence, build
leadership skills, critical thinking skills. So that box of cookies,
that package of cookies is much more than that sweet
treat that you're buying. Inside it really supports not only
that individual girl Scout, but also the troop experience. And
so many of our Girl Scouts do community service. They're

(03:20):
active in their community, supporting their community partners, and all
of those are really local, grassroots work that our Girl
Scouts do. So that cookie box is just one thing,
but really what you're doing is you're supporting the Girl
Scout leadership experience and that girl scout's experience in her community.
And so we just want to say thank you to

(03:41):
all of our customers out there. We know you enjoy
the cookies, but really your support of our Girl Scouts
is so important and so critical to help our girl
Scouts develop those.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Important skills, especially self esteem, self confidence. I guess there's
a personal story that you know about about somebody being
rejected from an institution and she just wouldn't accept that.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yes, So one of our Girl Scouts was applying to
schools and had received rejection and wrote back to the
Dean to try to figure out exactly why it was
that she had been rejected. What was it about her
application that was rejected? And so asked for a meeting

(04:24):
and went into the dean, and the dean explained that
they accept one hundred students into this program and they
had reached that capacity. And so she basically shared her experience,
and you know, she credits Girl Scouts with giving her
the ability to be strong and advocate for herself. Right.
This is the leadership skills that you might learn when

(04:45):
you're talking to people at booth sales when you're a
daisy or brownie, when you're a young Girl Scout, but
it is a life skill. And so, in this meeting
with the dean, explained why she believed that she should
be bar to the program. And in the end, oh,
this just gets me choked up. The dean made an exception.
They expanded the program to one hundred and one students

(05:05):
and she was accepted and went into the program, and
now she's an active nurse. So I just you know,
it is those skills that we learn when we're young, right,
and in a way that you wouldn't think about. But
if you see sometimes if you start up by a bousale,
you might see a girl Scout, maybe a girl Scout
Daisy kindergarten her first grade, who's not really good at

(05:28):
talking to adults. Right. They might be uncomfortable, this may
not be something that they've done before. But what I've seen,
and I've seen this in my own daughters, is that
given the opportunity to see other girl Scouts asking an
adult would you like to buy cookies? That really she
gains that confidence. And often by the end we had
one Girl Scout in my troop of my daughter who

(05:52):
is now twenty eight, and she was very hesitant, but
by the end of our first boothsale, she too was
in the cookie costume, holding the sign asking people would
you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies. So that confidence,
that ability to speak out, that ability you learn young
and then it can translate into some really important advocacy

(06:15):
and life skills as our Girl Scouts get older. So again,
the Cookie program, it's so much more than that package
of cookies. It's all of the things that Girl Scouts mean.
And that really is support by our customers across the
state that we are so thankful for.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
In January, you hosted a round up rally and entrepreneurship
fair and I believe it made these little girls into
business owners. Maybe you can tell people what happened in
January when they attended this.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Right, So we talk often about how our Girl Scouts,
you know, the Cookie program is the largest girl led
entrepreneurship program in the world, the Girl Scout Cookie Program,
And really you have to practice those skills, right, they're
not necessarily in hate innate in all of us. And
so we usually kick off our Girl Scouts began taking
orders in January, but prior to that, as Alison mentioned,

(07:08):
we had a large entrepreneurship and cookie rally in New
Haven at the Omni Hotel, and on opportunity for our
Girl Scouts to come out, we had a lot of
community partners that were there sharing the things that they do.
The State Police was there with their canine unit, and
we had historical Our Historical Committee was there sharing some

(07:30):
of the historical aspects of girl scouting. Lots of other
community partners and workshops to let our girl Scouts practice
like how do you bling your booth, how do you
set up your booth, how do you run that booth?
How do you ask adults if they want to buy cookies?
You know, going through the process of learning, how do
you set a cookie goal? What is a cookie goal

(07:51):
that's attainable? And then once you set that cookie goal,
what are you going to do to reach it? So
it's really developing those business skills. This is all part
of the cookie Yes, often what people see is the
Girl Scouts at their booth, but there's a lot of
work that goes into making sure the girls are comfortable,
giving them practice to be able to ask those adults

(08:14):
talk about cookies. Do they know their cookie flavors? Can
they help answer questions? Do they know about the Gift
of Caring program. We had folks from the Coast Guard
that were there to meet the Girl Scouts, just a
face on what does that Gift of Caring program. Look like,
these are real heroes that we're supporting, So it was

(08:34):
a great opportunity for it's a tune up, it's really
a rally let's get ready for our cookie season, which
starred in January when our Girl Scouts took order. So
it was something that we've done in different ways over
the years, but it's really an important step to get
everyone excited and ready for our Girl Scouts ready for cookies.

(08:54):
An opportunity for them to learn and grow, ask questions
and practice practice their business skills because being an entrepreneur,
which is so much something that women tend to not
choose to.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Do, that's amazing. If you'd like to be a Girl
Scout or purchase cookies, they're six dollars a box. You
can volunteer, you could become a troop leader. Just go
to GSOCT dot org. That would be like Girl Scouts
off Connecticut dot org GSOFCT dot org.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I think it's really important for folks to know is
that you can also find out where there's local cookie
booths by going to our website. So if you're looking
for an opportunity to get out and find a cookie booth.
Go to gsofct dot org, click on the cookie in
the top. You'll see the little cookie and you can
put in your zip code and find the booths the

(09:50):
dates and times and location that is closest to you.
So if you're looking for cookies, that's how to find them.
So cookie booths are happening now and they will go
through the n of April, and they're typically Saturdays and Sundays,
so they're typically weekend activities. But and so that's an
opportunity for you to get those sweet treats, and especially
if you want to stock up on smores and put

(10:11):
them in your freezer, because there's a lot of people
that tell me that a finniment tastes better coming out
of the freezer than it does just regularly. I love
tin mint, so I'll have them anyway. But I just
want to make sure that you know this is cookie
season in Connecticut through the end of April, so this
is the time to get out there and support our
girl Scouts and stock your freezer for those very quiet

(10:35):
summer months when there are no cookies. So just want
to make sure people know how to find there. They're
both so and if you want to help us right.
You can be a cookie parent and as Ellison mentioned,
be a troop leader or be involved with us at
a council level. You can also find that information on
our website as well. So again GSOSCT dot org. Remember

(10:59):
that Girl Scouts begin in kindergarten and we are getting
ready as of April first, those young girls that will
be going into kindergarten for next year, for the next
school year beginning April first, those pre K girls can
join us as a Girl Scout beginning April first, as
they get ready to look towards kindergarten. So it's an

(11:20):
important time. If you're a parent of a girl who's
going into kindergarten, this is an opportunity to think about
what that means for her next year as a kindergartener,
and you can find a troop and join us as
she gets ready for that big launch, that big step
into being a kindergartener next year.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
I'm speaking with Kary Kavlin, COO of Girl Scouts of
Connecticut Again that website GSOFCT dot org if you'd like
to purchase those cookies. Thank you so much for being
here today.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Thanks Alison for having me and I'm just excited to
share with our customers across the state is Girl Scout
Cookie season. So thank you for your support.