Girl Scout Cookies rolling into Virginia this week

Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council and Girl Scouts of the USA kicked off the 2021 Girl Scout Cookie season nationally, during a challenging time when many Girl Scouts are selling in creative, socially distant, and contact-free ways to keep themselves and their customers safe.

Girls are adapting their sales methods to share the joy of Girl Scout Cookies through the largest girl-led entrepreneurship program — including taking contact-free pickup and delivery orders through a new national collaboration with Grubhub.

GSUSA is making online cookie ordering available nationwide on Feb. 1 so consumers who don’t know a Girl Scout can still purchase cookies from a local troop for direct shipment to their homes or donation to local organizations.

Innovative girl-led sales methods

The Girl Scout Cookie Program has long taught girls how to run a business via in-person booths, door-to-door activity, and the Digital Cookie platform online, which GSUSA launched in 2014.

This year Virginia Skyline Girl Scouts will blaze new cookie-selling trails like running virtual cookie booths on social media to setting up drive-through locations to facilitating orders that ship directly to customers’ doors.

In addition, the proceeds from each and every purchase stay local with the troop and its council to power Girl Scouts’ essential leadership programming.

This year, Girl Scouts is also providing new materials as part of their cookie badge program to support girls as they run their cookie business online and via social media, helping them be best equipped to sell during these times.

Grubhub

This season, Virginia Skyline Council is participating in a national collaboration with food ordering and delivery platform Grubhub so girls have an additional way to facilitate contact-free cookie orders.

Consumers can order Girl Scout Cookies for pickup or delivery on Grubhub.com or the Grubhub app. A hands-on experience in managing e-commerce, local Girl Scouts will track and fulfill orders, manage inventory, and more, all using Grubhub’s back-end technology.

Currently, this method will only be available in Roanoke on Saturdays and Sundays starting January 30 through March 31. As always, the proceeds benefit the troop and council while providing another innovative way to safely run the cookie program virtually. GSUSA is grateful to Grubhub for waiving all fees for the organization to make this new delivery option feasible for sales without reducing troops’ and councils’ proceeds.

Online ordering begins Feb. 1

GSUSA is making it possible for all consumers nationwide who don’t already know a Girl Scout to purchase Girl Scout Cookies online for shipment to their door.

Beginning Feb. 1, customers can enter their zip code into the Girl Scout Cookie Finder to find a local troop to purchase from through the Digital Cookie platform for direct shipment or donation to local organizations. This additional contact-free method supports local girls while keeping their safety and skill-building top of mind.

Cookies!

Girl Scout Cookie season runs until March 31 in the Virginia Skyline Council region. Consumers can support Girl Scouts by purchasing Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, Trefoils, and more in a few different ways:

• If you know a registered Girl Scout, reach out to her to find out how she’s selling cookies this year.
• If you don’t know a Girl Scout, contact your local Girl Scout council and they’ll get you in contact with a local troop: [email protected]or 540-777-5100.
• Visit www.grubhub.com/food/girl_scoutsto order via contact-free delivery from Grubhub in Roanoke (Saturdays and Sundays, January 23 through March 31).
• Virginia Skyline Council is grateful to Barnes & Noble, Food Lion, GNC, and Lowe’s for opening space outside their retail locations for Girl Scouts to sell cookies in a safe and socially distant manner, when allowed by local COVID-19 guidelines.
• Beginning Feb. 1, enter your zip code into the Girl Scout Cookie Finder at www.girlscoutcookies.orgto purchase from a local Girl Scout troop online for shipment to your door or to donate cookies to first responders and local causes.