RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There are a lot of great things about being a Girl Scout.
REBECCA LATHAM: If you ask a group of Girl Scouts, what is your favorite thing about Girl Scouting? - 8 out of 10 of them will tell you they love selling cookies.
NOEL KING, HOST:
That's Rebecca Latham, the CEO of Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails. She says that selling cookies is about more than just raising money.
LATHAM: They are running their own business, and that is really affirming to them.
KING: During the pandemic, cookie sales took a hit. Across the country, there are 15 million boxes unsold.
LATHAM: Over the past year, girls are really suffering from a crisis of loneliness. Not being able to conduct their cookie programs the way that they have done in the past was very difficult for them.
MARTIN: So to sell during the pandemic, her scouts had to get creative.
LATHAM: So here in New Mexico, we partnered with the New Mexico United Soccer Team and Dion's, which is a beloved pizza chain. So the girls did pop-up sales and were able to get through 10,000 packages of cookies in one day.
MARTIN: They went from 22,000 unsold boxes down to 2,800. Latham is hopeful they'll be able to donate the rest.
LATHAM: We are continuing to take donations through our Hometown Heroes program, and we'll continue to do that until we have none left. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
