Alumnae Story
Cases of Cookies Piled So High

By Kathleen Pitman
Houston, Texas

I was a Girl Scout in Houston, Texas in the 60's and 70's. My two best friends were Girl Scouts and we did everything together. Alice's mom was the leader, Kim's mom was the co-leader and camp mom, and my mom was the cookie mom. We had so many great times, but what I remember most was cases of cookies piled so high all the way around the dining room. At that time we had to estimate how many we would sell and order them. There were no pre-orders. The cookies were delivered to our house by UPS. I remember my mom telling my four brothers not to open ANY cases because we couldn't return any opened cases. Of course someone would end up opening ALL the Thin Mint cases!

I loved selling cookies, and worked hard to be the top seller each year. The cases had handles then and I would go around the neighborhood with two mixed cases until all the cookies were gone. One year my friends and I won a week at camp for selling a certain number of boxes. It was the best camp I had ever been to.

The one thing my leader taught us that I still practice is to pick up three pieces of trash wherever you go. I now lead my daughter's troop and several of the girls are working on their Silver Award. Now I understand why our parents put forth the effort for us. And yes, my girls have to pick up three pieces of trash wherever we go!