The Girl Scouts are doing things a little different this year. Instead of the traditional booths, they'll be holding a cookie drive thru at the New York state fairgrounds in Syracuse.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to change the way they do things. From drive thru food drives to drive thru Christmas lights. So why not drive thru Girl Scout cookies.

"We’re very fortunate to be able to partner with the amazing folks at the New York State Fairgrounds to give our troops an opportunity to host drive-thru cookie booths allowing girls to continue to hone their entrepreneurial skills and conduct contactless sales safely," said Jaime Alvarez, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications for Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways.

Drive-thru booths will be set up at the Fairgrounds from 4pm-8pm on Fridays and 10am-6pm on Saturdays & Sundays February 12th through March 21st. "We will provide troops and their adult volunteers/leaders with cookies and technology to take contactless orders," said Alvarez. "Credit/debit cards are preferred, but cash will be accepted. There will be a few lines of cars. Everyone will be masked and distanced for safety. Folks will follow the line to the order taker, and then drive a bit further down the line to have their cookie order placed in their trunk or backseat."

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Girl Scouts are also conducting online sales through their personalized Digital Cookie order links, holding virtual cookie booths with friends and family via Zoom and other video networking platforms. "Our Service Units are also setting up drive-thru booths in some of their local communities across our 26-county footprint," Alvarez said.

The Girl Scout Cookie Program helps power Girl Scouts’ activities for the year through experiences like community service projects, badge work, camp, travel and more while girls gain important entrepreneurial, business and life skills like goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. This major fundraiser is the lifeblood of the Girl Scout council. "The goal is to help our girls have a positive and successful 2021 cookie program, give them a sense of normalcy during such a challenging time," said Alvarez. "Since we're still in the middle of this crazy time, we continue to be creative and think of new ways to help support our girls during the 2021 cookie program while keeping them as safe as possible."

The Girl Scouts have also partnered with Grubhub. Local ordering/delivery runs February 11th through March 21st. "We have select locations across our 26-county footprint where troops will prepare/pack orders for Grubhub drivers to deliver," explained Alvarez.

To-date, we’ll have Grubhub service in these zips:

  • Cicero (13039) and Horseheads (14845)
  • Fayetteville (13066)
  • Syracuse (13204 and 13209)
  • Utica (13502) (Luna’s of Varick)
  • Auburn (13022)
  • Ithaca (14850)
  • Watertown (13601)
  • Canandaigua (14424)

"Throughout the past year, our girls have shown just how resilient and strong they are at overcoming challenges, not just during the cookie program, but in every facet of their young lives," said Alvarez. So much has changed for our girls during this unprecedented time. They’re truly getting a real-world experience about adaptability and perseverance."

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