Girl Scouts River Valleys Volunteers

Resources for River Valleys' Volunteers

The Cookie Press: Edition 3

Family Cookie Business Meeting, Council-Sponsored Virtual Cookie Rally, Troop & Girl Materials, Online Troop Training Available Now, Last TCP of the year, Smart Cookies Registration Links, Initial Order Cookie Calculator, Service Unit Cookie Guidebook Available Now, Last Call for Cookie Rally Orders, Troop Materials Shipment, New SUM-SUCM Q&A Session Recording, Help Needed: Walmart Booth Recruitment

In this edition:

Up Next:

Reminders:

For Service Unit Cookie Managers:

 

Family Cookie Business Meeting

Koalas carrying cookies in a camperThe Family Cookie Meeting is critical to the success of your troop’s Cookie Program. It helps to provide a foundation of understanding and agreement for both volunteers and families. Girl Scouts River Valleys recommends hosting a meeting in January. This meeting can be held in-person or virtually (or both). If you don’t already have one, request your free Troop Zoom Account to hold a virtual meeting. Use the Troop Family Cookie Business Meeting Tip Sheet to help you prep and run the meeting. Send out invites now so families can circle this important date on their calendars.

Council-Sponsored Virtual Cookie Rally

  • What: Girl Scouts River Valleys is hosting a virtual cookie rally again this year! We want to kick off the cookie season by bringing girls together to get excited and ready for the cookie sale. This event will help support our Service Unit Cookie Managers (SUM), who are already busy preparing for the upcoming program. Service Units are still welcome to hold their own event if they would like, and girls can attend one or both rallies.
  • Who: ALL River Valleys Girl Scouts are welcome
  • When: Tuesday, February 8 from 6:30 pm – 7:15 pm (CST)
  • Where: The comfort of your own home!
  • How do I sign up? Register for the cookie rally. The event is free to attend.

Can’t make it? You can view the recording of the event on the Girl Scouts River Valleys Facebook or YouTube pages.

Troop & Girl Cookie Materials

Troop cookie materials will be shipping to Service Units the week of December 28. Your Service Unit Cookie Manager (SUCM) will be in touch to coordinate picking up your troop supplies. There will be opportunities to order additional girl sales items later, so stay tuned for more details in a future Cookie Press post.

If you want to get a head start reviewing your resources, our Troop Cookie Manager Guidebook is available and has been updated for the 2022 season, and is packed to the brim with all things cookies. Along with your Troop Cookie Companion, you’ll use the guidebook for a deeper dive into all the details on the Cookie Program. You can download and print a copy access it online. It’s a must-read to ensure you have all the details you need to fulfill your important cookie duties.

Online Troop Cookie Training Available Now!

Our Online Troop Cookie Manager Training is available. If you are a new Troop Cookie Manager (TCM), don’t forget to also review our Troop Cookie Basics Video first. This will help orient you to your role and responsibilities before learning more about the details of this year’s cookie program.

The Cookie Press Returns in January

We’ll be pausing Cookie Press blog posts for the rest of the month, with the next post going live on Thursday, January 6. Be sure to review past posts for your reference, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions before then! As always, we are here to support you and answer any questions you may have.

 

Koala on a branchVolunteers will receive their links to access Smart Cookies, the online cookie management system, the week of December 20. You’ll receive the email invitation from noreply@abcsmartcookies.com. Girl Scouts River Valleys will add two troop contacts to the system: the Troop Leader and the Troop Cookie Manager (TCM). Troops can only have two contacts in the system, but multiple users. Troop contacts receive emails from Smart Cookies and have access to all functions. Troop users do not receive emails but will have access to all functions. To add additional troop users or change contacts, you must reach out to us at girlscouts@girlscoutsrv.org. Once you’ve registered, complete the important first steps:

  1. Complete your volunteer profile.
  2. Enter troop banking information and the number of girls selling.
  3. Confirm your girls’ information. All the information you need to navigate Smart Cookies is included in our Smart Cookies Guide for Volunteers linked on Cookie Central. Rest assured, when important Smart Cookies tasks are on the horizon this cookie season, we’ll keep you up to date right here!

Initial Order Cookie Calculator

If your troop is planning to participate in in-person cookie sales or plans to hold Cookie Booths starting on Go Day, you’ll want to start thinking about your initial cookie order. Girl Scouts River Valleys Cookie Calculator has returned again this season. The Cookie Calculator will provide your troop a recommendation for your initial order by cookie variety. If your troop participated in the last cookie season, the recommendation will take into account your troop’s 2021 PGA (per girl average) from troop inventory (excluding direct-ship sales). If your troop did not participate in 2021, the recommendation will be based on the PGA from your troop’s Girl Scout Grade Level.

Note: The Cookie Calculator will provide a recommendation based on the number of PACKAGES by variety. The initial cookie order in Smart Cookies is made in CASES. There are 12 packages in each case of cookies.

For troops that place an initial order based on the Girl Scouts River Valleys’ recommended total case count, all girls selling in the troop will receive our exclusive Adventureful 2022 Boost Bar patch. Troops do not need to follow the variety recommendation to earn the patch, only the total case count.

 

Service Unit Cookie Manager Guidebook Available Now

Koala holding Girl Scout CookiesOur annual Service Unit Cookie Manager Guidebook has now been updated for the 2022 season. Along with the handy Service Unit Cookie Notebook, you’ll use this guidebook to dive deeper into your role in supporting troops through their program participation. You can download a copy or simply review the electronic version that will always have the most current cookie info for your role.

Just a reminder that, if you were not able to attend one of our virtual Service Unit Cookie Manager (SUCM) training sessions, our Service Unit Cookie Manager Online Training is now available. Remember that you must have attended a virtual training session or completed the online training as a part of your Service Unit level role. Plus, one of the requirements to earn the annual Service Unit bonus is to have at least one Service Unit volunteer complete cookie training by February 1.

Last Call for Cookie Rally Orders

If you’re hosting a cookie rally, this is the last chance to order your cookies and rewards kits! No late orders will be accepted, so be sure to place your order by Tuesday, December 21.

Reminder: Troop Materials Shipping the Week of December 28

Cookie print materials and supplies for troops and girls will ship the week of December 28. Be sure to follow all In-Person Girl Scout Activity Guidance when distributing these items to troops.

New SUM-SUCM Q&A Session Recording

Attention all new (or new-ish) Service Unit Managers and Cookie Managers! The Product Program Advisory Committee, or P-PAC as we like to call them, held a Zoom session filled with tips, guidance, and inspiration for you. You can access the Zoom recording of the session. The passcode is Cookies2022.

Help Needed: Walmart Booth Recruitment

We are offering first picks at Walmart or Sam’s Club to volunteers who can help us secure our Walmart & Sam’s booths this season! Walmart and Girl Scouts of the USA have signed on to a national partnership, but we still need permission from each store’s manager to sell cookies there. That’s where we are hoping for your help as a Service Unit volunteer. If you agree to help…

You would:

  • Go to the store and find out who the best person is to help schedule the booth for the week of January 3. Complete follow-up phone calls or store visits as needed to get in touch with the right manager.
  • Gain agreement from the manager for us to be there.
  • Confirm the dates and times we provide (or an amended schedule from the manager)
  • Get a signature on the agreement and send a photo or copy back to us.

We would:

  • Provide step-by-step instructions for completing the reach out.
  • Provide you with the dates and times we recommend scheduling, as well as the agreement to sign.
  • Give you first pick of one shift for your troop at the date & time of your choosing before the booth is posted for selection in Smart Cookies.

If you are willing to help with this effort, please Complete the Walmart/Sam’s Booth Recruitment Sign-Up Form by December 22 at 2:00 pm (CST). At that time, the form will close, we will pick volunteers, and send emails to everyone who has been selected that afternoon. Reach-outs cannot begin until January 3. Thank you for considering!

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