Each year around this time, Nipomo resident Riana Banks and her daughter, Kaelyn, gear up to sell as many Girl Scout Cookies as humanly possible. At just 7 years old, Kaelyn is already an established go-getter, and with two years of sales experience under her sash, she knows it’s her personal interactions with potential customers that really sell cookies.
“My daughter usually really looks forward to pounding the pavement and going out and knocking on doors,” Riana told the Sun.
That, however, won’t be possible this season. In all its cruelty, the coronavirus pandemic has taken yet another beloved tradition from us: Girl Scout Cookie season.
Recent months-long surges in cases of COVID-19 put much of California in the purple tier, and Riana, who also serves as a Girl Scouts troop leader and cookie chair in the Five Cities area, said local troops won’t be able to use their usual in-person sales tactics this season. So there won’t be any sales booths set up outside your favorite grocery store or local bank, Riana said, and there won’t be any Girl Scouts knocking at your door.
But have no fear, for our intrepid Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast aren’t going down without a fight. Like essentially everyone else in the world, the Girl Scouts are going virtual.
Most individual scouts already have their own cookie websites through Smart Cookies, an online platform where scouts can track their sales progress and friends and family from out of town can purchase cookies and have them delivered from afar. Riana said local girl scouts are leaning hard on their Smart Cookies sites for sales this season.
To draw attention to their individual sites, Riana said scouts like Kaelyn are making videos, posting on social media, and passing out flyers that contain QR codes linking potential customers to their sites. Recipients of the flyers can take a photo of the QR code on their phones, and they’ll be linked to a local scout’s Smart Cookies site. There, customers can order all the cookies they desire and have them shipped directly from a bakery or delivered contact-free by a scout. That way, cookie orders can contribute both to the overall fundraising effort and local scouts, who receive prizes when they hit certain sales milestones.
“That’s pretty much all we can do as of right now,” Riana said, “unless things improve and change throughout the season.”
Kathryn Nielsen, director of marketing for the Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast, said that although this year looks different for the Girl Scouts, it’s also an opportunity to teach girls real-world tech and digital marketing skills.
“This season is about girls developing a whole new skill set and bringing them into a new digitized way of entrepreneurship,” Nielsen wrote in a statement to the Sun. “We are focused on the digital and contactless world with enhanced Smart Cookies features and contactless marketing and sales opportunities to enable our girls to gain skills by learning how to build a digital business. Girls are able to adapt to this new business model the entire world is shifting to.”
Last year, Nielsen said roughly $1.7 million worth of cookie sales went to local troops on the Central Coast, which includes Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, SLO, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. All proceeds stay local, and allow scouts to take trips, explore the outdoors at camp, and fund community service projects.
“When you buy Girl Scout cookies,” Nielsen said, “you’re helping to power new, unique, and amazing experiences for girls.”
Highlights
• The city of Lompoc is gearing up to draft its 2021-23 city budget and wants to hear from community members about their goals and priorities. Lompoc invites residents to take a survey available on the city’s website at cityoflompoc.com, which will remain open until Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. “Survey-takers are asked to provide feedback on goals and priorities for the city established by Lompoc City Council for the fiscal years 2019-2021 budget cycle, and provide input on how the City Council should proceed with setting goals and priorities for the 2021-2023 budget cycle,” according to the city.
• The Santa Maria Public Library has another fun craft pack for local kids who are looking for something to create. The packs include the materials needed to re-create animals from Michael Hall’s book, My Heart is Like a Zoo. Registration began Jan. 30 at cityofsantamaria.org/library, and packs can be picked up during the library’s sidewalk service hours through Feb. 6. Registration includes a link to the library’s weekly live story time session on Feb. 10, during which library staff will read the book that inspired the craft pack.
Malea Martin wrote this week’s Spotlight. Send hot tips about businesses, nonprofits, and good samaritans to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 4-11, 2021.
