Every day we hear about more businesses closing, and more events canceled as a result of the COVID-19 virus and lockdown.   One you might not have heard about is how the timing of it all hit the Girl Scouts.

Denise Demarest has been involved in Girl Scouts for years.  She’s and Area Product Manager for the Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan (GSHOM) a group that includes nearly 400 girls in Calhoun County.

“Our sales for our cookies is about 8 weeks.  Back in the spring, we had 2 weeks of sales, but lost 6 weeks of sales,” said Demarest.  “We had ordered 70,000 boxes of cookies, and they all have to be paid for.”    The problem though is that only the scout leaders may sell them since the lockdown started in March.  Demarest says they still have about 60,000 to 65,000 boxes on the shelves.  If you do the math, that’s over $300,000 retail.

“It’s a HUGE loss for our girl-led program. We were able to cancel future orders, but baked and delivered cookies had to be paid for by GSHOM”, said Demarest.

Demarest says they’re probably going to end up taking that loss, as they donate to various organizations, such as shelters and food pantries.   But she’s hoping that people will buy some of the cookies and pick them up, or buy them to be donated.

“We have our Home Town Heroes Program, for people to "buy" cookies and we will deliver them to veteran groups, Blue Star Moms, and police and fire personnel.”  She says they’ve expanded their “heroes” program to include nurses, pharmacists, nursing home workers, and even nursing home residents.

“And, of course, food pantries. We will do our best to get cookies to a specific place or group.   Now if people still want cookies for themselves, they can get them from me at Happy House Gift Shop! “

You can call Happy House Gift Shop at 269-962-0650, or call Denise at 269-986-4353.

Anyone that would like to donate can send a pay pal payment to gscupboard@comcast.net.  Or they can stop by the store at 100 East Columbia Avenue in Battle Creek.

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