Girl Scouts are in the midst of their annual &uot;Cookie Sale,&uot; and as they say in the movies, &uot;Resistance is futile.&uot; Anyway, how could you resist those wonderful &uot;Little Brownie Baker&uot; cookies? Besides the fact that the cookies are scrumptious, they help the girls pay for activities throughout the year.

Some of those activities include field trips to places that many of the Scouts would not be able to enjoy were it not for the cookie sale that is now in its 80th year.

Girl Scout cookies are a familiar part of American culture. For more than 80 years, Girl Scouts, with the enthusiastic support of their families, have helped ensure the success of local Girl Scout cookie activities. From its earliest beginnings to its current popularity, Brownie, Junior, Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts who sell cookies have fun, develop valuable life skills and &uot;make the world a better place&uot; by helping to support Girl Scouting in their communities. Girls are proud that their efforts provide resources for their local Girl Scout councils and for their own Girl Scout troops.

With the enthusiastic support of families, friends, and neighbors, Girl Scout cookie sales have helped ensure the continued success of the organization. The 2003 Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast &uot;Dream Big Cookie Sale&uot; is an important part of the Girl Scout program that teaches responsibility, money management, marketing, and communications skills. Similar to their grandmothers and great-grandmothers who first sold Girl Scout cookies as early as 1917, today’s Girl Scouts participate in cookie sales to learn teamwork, plan and set goals, earn money for troop activities, and the event teaches them how to make sound decisions. They also learn the importance of deliver goods in top conditions, and they soon discover the satisfaction of a job well done.

Girl Scouting began in Savannah, Ga., in the home of the organization’s founder, Juliette Gordon Low. She wanted to establish an organization that would offer a caring, supportive environment in which girls could flourish by developing the highest ideals of character, conduct, patriotism, and community service so they could become happy, resourceful citizens.

In Suffolk, girls are part of the &uot;Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast,&uot; which serves 25,000 square miles of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

According to Dorothy Cogswell, service unit coordinator for Suffolk’s Scouts, the Colonial Coast Girl Scouts number about 16,000. They represent many racial/ethnic, socio-economic, and religious backgrounds. Their diversity enhances the Colonial Coast Girl Scout experience.

As Cogswell said, girls also enjoy the regional program center, &uot;A Place for Girls,&uot; located in Chesapeake. This is the site of workshops and outdoor activities for girls, training and support services for volunteers, and a full service Girl Scout Shop.

Remember to purchase those cookies before they’re gone again for another entire year. They’re just $3 per delicious box, and just in case a Girl Scout misses knocking on your door, they may be ordered by calling 757-340-YUMM (9866).