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Brigid Bergin: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin filling in for Brian today. We're going to end today's show with a celebration of the start of everyone's favorite season, not spring, which according to some groundhogs is still six weeks away. It's Girl Scout Cookies season. Joining me now to talk all about the Girl Scout program and its beloved cookies is Karen Lundgard, interim CEO of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. She'll also tell us about a very special troop local to New York City with a unique mission. We'll give you info about how to get some cookies from them if you're moved by their cause. Karen, welcome to WNYC.

Karen Lundgard: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

Brigid Bergin: Listeners, were you a Girl Scout growing up? What lasting impact did participating in the Girl Scouts program have on you as you grew up? Do you have any memories of selling cookies, earning badges, or just making friends? Is your child currently a Girl Scout? Now's your opportunity to shout out their troop. Do you have a favorite Girl Scout cookie or memories to go along with it?

Give us a call with your Girl Scout stories at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. I'm sure it's been a long time since many of our listeners were Girl Scouts. Before we get into cookies, Karen, what do Girl Scouts do nowadays? What programming is offered to Scouts, and how has it evolved since you first joined as a kid?

Karen Lundgard: That's such a great question. We are focused on championing girl ambition. Whatever they want to do and achieve, we want to provide them with the tools and confidence to go for it. We are looking at what are Girl Scouts going to need when they start entering their careers, when they're entering adulthood, what are those things they're going to need in the future. We focus on four major program focal areas.

The first is STEM, science, technology, engineering and math. The next is environmental leadership. We want to make sure that our girls understand the natural world and their impact on it. We have a beautiful camp in upstate New York, Camp Kaufmann, that's 425 acres, where our Girl Scouts can have that access to green space and understand their connection to the natural world. The next is life skills and leadership.

We want to equip them with those tools to go out and create sustainable change and whatever they see in their communities and they want to make change with and then finally is business and entrepreneurship and that's where our amazing Cookie Program comes in. We know no matter what path our Girl Scouts are going to take in life, they're going to need some entrepreneurial spirit approach to it. We want to ensure that they have that. That is where our Girl Scout Cookie Program comes in.

Brigid Bergin: Let's talk a little bit more about the cookies. Just give us an overview of how the Cookie Program works and how that fundraising process supports all of what you just described.

Karen Lundgard: Absolutely. We serve the five boroughs of New York City, and there are currently thousands of Girl Scouts learning important life skills by participating in the Cookie Program. Each Girl Scout starts off by setting their goals, thinking about what it is that they want to achieve this year, which badges do they want to work on? Do they want to go to camp? Do they want to go to summer Sleepaway Camp? Do they want to go on field trips? Do they want to travel?

Whatever they want to do, they're going to start off by setting those goals and thinking about how they're going to achieve them. There are three different ways that these Girl Scouts are participating in the Cookie Program. The first is with that traditional order card and I'm so happy you asked the listeners out there if they are Girl Scout alumni. For anybody that was, I'm sure they remember walking around with that traditional physical card and asking family and friends to buy.

They're literally checking off the list and looking at the different flavors. The second is that every Girl Scout has the opportunity to set up a Digital Cookie link. If you're selling to grandma in Florida, we make it convenient and easy for them. Also, the Girl Scouts are learning about E-commerce and how to sell in a digital world. Then, finally, we have booths all over New York City. In a month here or so, you'll be seeing troops in front of businesses, in front of community centers, selling out there in the booths in the community. Lots of different ways for our Girl Scouts to participate and learn important skills through it.

Brigid Bergin: That's great. I'm going to bring some of our, I think, Girl Scout alumni into the conversation. Let's go to Jane in Ossining. Jane, thanks for calling.

Jane: Hi. Thanks for having me. I was a Girl Scout from Brownies all the way till I was 18 and was told I better become a leader or get out of the troop. I met my very best friend in our troop, and we've been friends for 60 years, which is really frightening, but we're still reminiscing about Girl Scouts. I guess my one issue with the cookie drive is we had to physically go to someone's house and explain what we were doing and what we were using the money for. Now, it seems like the moms are just doing all the sales at their companies. I don't buy Girl Scout Cookies unless they're from a Girl Scout directly.

Brigid Bergin: Jane, thanks for raising that.

Jane: That's my two cents.

Brigid Bergin: That is something that, with the digital platform, I think I've heard some other people mention. Karen, what would you say to potential customers, supporters of the Girl Scouts about how this shift has impacted what the girls are doing versus what maybe their parents are helping them do?

Karen Lundgard: Absolutely. I think this is something that any youth program runs into, is parents stepping into these things. I will say that we incentivize our Girl Scouts to be super involved in every piece of the process. Even with the Digital Cookie links, those Girl Scouts are setting up their own pages. This is part of that goal-setting process too, is laying out what it is they actually want to do with these proceeds and how they're going to get there. We also incentivize through a program called our Cookie Exec Program.

Each Girl Scout who sells over 500 Girl Scout Cookies are eligible to be involved in this and they have extra experiences on top of their Girl Scouting experiences where they can hear from business professionals, attend various celebrations, and lead younger Girl Scouts at various cookie events. We do encourage every single step of the way that our Girl Scouts are directly involved in this process. We know that's how they're going to benefit from this and gain those skills too.

Brigid Bergin: Let's go to Johanna in Lindenhurst. Johanna, thanks for calling.

Johanna: Oh, hi. My name is Johanna. I grew up in Yonkers, New York and I was a Girl Scout for many years. '74 and '76, we used to go door to door, just me and a friend of mine, a fellow Girl Scout. We'd go knocking on random doors, which you don't do anymore. If anybody knows Yonkers, it's very hilly. We would walk up and down selling Girl Scout Cookies. As a result of that, the money we collected in two years, the Girl Scout troop I was in, I don't remember the number, we went on a cross-country bus trip camping along the way to Wyoming twice.

Karen Lundgard: Amazing.

Johanna: Just from Girl Scout cookie money.

Karen Lundgard: Incredible.

Brigid Bergin: Wow. Johanna, thanks so much for that story. I want to get another one. Let's go to Deborah in Westchester. Deborah, thanks for calling.

Deborah: Hi. Sure. My name is Deborah and I'm a co-leader of a senior Girl Scout troop, ninth-grade girls. We have 15, which is pretty remarkable around here. It seems like the younger grades garner larger numbers and then it starts to peter out as the girls get older. I just can't say enough about how this program has helped empower our girls, teach them so many different skills, wilderness skills, STEM skills. We are not big.

I never started out as a big camper. We go camping every weekend. I feel like the girls have also pushed us, the leaders, to do things we may not have thought we were capable of doing. They still sell cookies. I think they love the cookie booth. We do a lot of cookie booths with our troop, three of them. They're all going for their Gold Awards right now. Actually, most of them are going for their Gold Awards, which is the equivalent of an Eagle Scout award, the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve.

They've been together, most of them, since they were Daisies, since kindergarten. The longevity of this relationship is something I just can't speak enough about.

Brigid Bergin: Deborah, thank you so much for that call. Karen, I want to ask you about Troop 6000. It's a local troop that New Yorkers might be particularly interested in. Can you tell us a little bit more about this troop and its unique circumstances?

Karen Lundgard: Yes, absolutely. Troop 6000 was developed over seven years ago now, and it was specially designed to serve girls and families who are experiencing homelessness. We meet directly in the shelters and have troop meetings there weekly with the Girl Scouts. Everything is provided to them at no cost to them as far as their uniforms and any materials they need for their badges. If they are going to camp, we're ensuring that they have sleeping bags, that they have a bathing suit, all of those things.

We're ensuring that there are no barriers to access for them and they're receiving the same benefits that every other Girl Scout is from this impactful program. I was so elated to hear the caller who just called in, such an impactful piece of this program. I really appreciate that. Each of these Girl Scouts are being provided that. They're also participating in the Cookie Program, which is wonderful. They're helping to support the overall program as well. We did recently expand Troop 6000 to asylum-seeking families. We're also in emergency asylum-seeking shelters as well all over New York City.

Brigid Bergin: Karen, if listeners want to support Troop 6000, is there a way to buy cookies either in person or online to support them?

Karen Lundgard: Yes. If you go to girlscoutsnyc.org, you'll see there's a huge button right on our homepage that says 'Cookies'. If you go to that, you'll go directly to links to purchase cookies from there.

Brigid Bergin: Karen, just briefly, what are the proceeds of cookie sales funding? Is it going specifically to one troop or is there a larger statewide, maybe even nationwide pot?

Karen Lundgard: This is going directly to Girl Scouts here in New York City. I just want to remind everyone, too, that you're buying so much more than a box of cookies every time you buy it. Of course, it's a delicious treat that we all love, but just remembering that you're supporting a transformational experience for that Girl Scout right here in New York City, every single box of cookies means that the girl is practicing things like goal-setting, money management, decision making, people skills, and so much more and helping them reach their goals to do those things like go up to our camp, go on trips, earn badges with important skills. Just keep that in mind every time, so much more than a box of cookies.

Brigid Bergin: I really appreciate all the stories we've gotten from listeners. We've gotten some great text in as well. One Listener wrote, "I'm 65 years old and joined as a Brownie. Graduated from Girl Scouts as a senior in high school. I got to stay at the International Girl Scout House in Mexico when I was a sophomore in high school and 10 days in the Swiss Alps in Switzerland my junior year. It really pays off to stay until you're old enough to do that. Really influenced my attitudes about being one as human beings, regardless of background or country."

We're going to have to leave it there for now. My guest has been Karen Lundgard, interim CEO of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. Karen, thank you so much for the cookie sale information and for all the great work that you do. We really appreciate it.

Karen Lundgard: Thank you so much.

Brigid Bergin: The Brian Lehrer Show's producers are Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Our intern is Henry Serenger. Megan Ryan is the head of Live Radio. Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz are at the studio controls. I'm Brigid Bergin, and this is The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Thanks for listening, everybody. Stay tuned for All Of It.

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