Tough Cookies: Scouts Bring In Dough Cookie Sales Provide Bulk Of Local Girl Scouts Budget; Parents Object

The girls who go door to door selling Girl Scout cookies each winter are pulling far more than their share of the organization’s financial load.

That’s the message Inland Empire Girl Scout Council board members got from a host of angry parents and volunteers at an annual meeting Thursday night.

“Oh God!” moaned a Mead woman when told the girls’ cookie money accounts for about 70 percent of the local organization’s revenue.

Ideally, the girls would only earn about one-third of the revenue, board members said, while the rest would come from adult efforts, donations, investments and the United Way.

“We’re trying to go for adult funding, but we keep picking on the girls,” said another mother.

Parents and troop leaders also blasted board members for dipping into the organization’s savings, for raising the price of cookies too high, and for not having up-todate financial reports.

“Girl Scouts stresses diversity and getting along,” said Donna Stemple, a former board member. “You know it’s pushing the limit for us to get up in arms like this.”

The annual meetings are not usually well-attended. About 75 people showed up Thursday night for the session at Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church, 4102 S. Crestline, which lasted more than three hours.

Several people complained the board has depended on savings too much during the past nine years.

“Yes, we have been dipping into our reserves,” said Curt Fackler, the board’s treasurer. “It’s real close right now. Our reserves are pretty much gone.”

The Inland Empire Girl Scout Council oversees Girl Scout activities in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Judith Edlund, the council’s executive director for 14 years, said board members have the girls’ best interests in mind. But it’s been tough to raise enough money, especially as Girl Scout membership declines, she said.

Membership recently dropped by 13 percent, Edlund said.

Edlund said earlier Thursday that this year’s budget is about $900,000.

Board members are trying to find other ways for the adults to generate income without relying on cookie sales, she said.

Financial reports for the fiscal year ending last September aren’t available because a computer program crashed, along with the backup system, Edlund said.

Information had to be re-entered into the computer, said Edlund, adding that the reports will be available in mid-May.

Under pressure from the volunteers, board members set a special meeting on financial issues for May 25.