One point to be considered is that in future sales efforts, a possible buyer might ask, “Now how are the profits to be spent?” A possible buyer will now be leery of buying Girl Scout cookies to “help” others after discovering the vain uses of this money. In the long run sales which might have helped some group, e.g. a humane society, will not be made because of this questionable choice. (I have served as a Camp Fire leader for seven years so please don’t get defensive.) Just consider how people who never questioned profit use may become cynical.
The nice thing about Girl Scout cookie sales is that unlike many other fundraising sales (gift wrap, stupid tchotchkes, etc.), most people who buy the cookies are buying them because they actually want to eat the cookies. As opposed to just buying some crap they don’t really want in order to help out the fundraising organization. So I am not terribly concerned that Girl Scouts of America is going to see a sudden drop in cookie sales because people found out that a Brownie troop used a few bucks to have a spa day.
That is actually a list of organizations eligible to receive your charitable donation, it includes nonprofits, which as far as I can find Girls Scouts are nonprofit educational organizations. This is a classification given by the state which is why they’re listed by state. My point was really that as a nonprofit the girls Scouts do not have to spend all, or any of their money on charity.
Someone up thread thought the girls shouldn’t do this activity because the G.S.'s are a charity and they should only participate or donate to charitable activities. Maintaining a camp isn’t a charitable activity, saving money to go to Washington D.C. isn’t a charitable activity, but those are both activities most people would approve of. Camping scholarships to underprivileged girls are charity. Trips to help with flood clean-up or helping with daycare in a poor area are charitable. A work weekend to clean up the G.S. camp isn’t charity either because the G.S.'s receive the benefit.
If you want your money to go to charitable things only, then donate to the camper scholarship program directly or to the food pantry. The Girl Scouts, as non profits are required to put their unused money back into their own organization. As not a charity they can spend their money in non charitable ways.
From the OP:
The troop gets between $0.50 and $1 per box sold (the rest goes back to GS). In this case, the troop leader is determining what to do with 40% of the proceeds, and let the girls vote on the rest.
It sounds to me like breakdown per dollar:
40 cents for troop activities and supplies
5 cents to charity
35 cents to a big summer activity
20 cents to a dress-up party as a reward for selling cookies
You know, for a lot of girls (certainly for me) selling those cookies was no fun whatsoever. I hated going door to door. I hated manning a booth outside a grocery store. I hated talking to people in my parents’ offices. I was shy, petrified of having to give the little speech and annoying people… the whole thing was a ton of work on top of being scary. Having a reward for hard work is appropriate, and I just do not care how frivolous that reward is. It’s meant to be fun.
How would you feel about using the money for a shopping spree at Toys R Us instead?
Back in the day when I was a Girl Scout, we did the door-to-door thing. Since my troop was run through the church I attended, we would also set up a table on Easter Sunday so that people could buy cookies after the long-ass service. My mother plopped my sister and me out front of Kroger’s one day and made us peddle the cookies all alone (did I mention we were probably seven or eight at the time?) We came home and found that our older sister had eaten all the Trefoils. So no, it wasn’t fun at all.
However, I don’t see little girls struggling like that now (I hope I don’t sound like a grouchy old person). At work, there are three or four parents who just bring in the forms, tape them to the bulletin board in the breakroom, and people sign up. You know when the shipment has arrived because everyone is munching on reams of Thin Mints. When I do see little girls selling, they usually are all standing together in front of a busy storefront, with their parents doing most of the work at the table. The kids may shout at you occassionally to buy some cookies, but that’s about it.
So it might not be the most exciting thing that Girl Scouts do, but I don’t think it was the arduous chore it used to be…not with Mommy and Daddy doing most of the work. They, if anything, deserve a reward.
It is possible I’ve misread your posts. In all honesty, your first post seemed both judgmental and snarky (to me) toward the OP, and then you complained about others judgementalism in your second post. I could be misreading your tone. shrug I will endeavor to learn to read and to get over it.
Though, out of curiosity, if you hadn’t meant to equate this kiddie day spa trip to stripping, what were you referring to by the pole dancing followed by the hygiene lesson comment? It was the only way I could read that, so clearly my mind goes the wrong way on things.
boozilu,
I have to say, it is a nice thing for you to do with the girl scouts. I’d been in the brownies as a kid and it was fun. (Though, yeah, my Mom never had time to sew on the little badges and I was the only girl there with taped on badges falling off left and right…)
Again, I was not equating spa day with pole dancing. I was attempting, very poorly, it seems, to illustrate why, ‘it’s what they voted on’, wasn’t an argument for or against anything. If they’d picked pole dancing, one assumes, they wouldn’t have been permitted to pursue it, even though ‘they voted on it’. Appropriateness of this activity is not affected by how they came to it, in my opinion.
But I wouldn’t write a long letter of complaint, call other mother’s etc, that’s not who I am. I would simply not have my child there for this spa day. Because I’m not saying your kid can’t do it and enjoy it, because I’m not judging you, I just don’t want my kid to participate. My feeling is that there is time to be 12 and 13, - when they are 12 and 13! Not the guidance, I was hoping for my 8 yr old, that’s all.
But apparently the nails and beauty day crowd is so sensitive that my choice is somehow seen as an indictment of theirs. Who knew they’d be so sensitive?
I think I saw this mentioned upthread, but the Brownie leader I talked to a couple of days ago said that generally they give the kids a few choices and let them vote on them. I think you’re right that the leaders have some ability to discount certain nominations*.
ISTM, that though I have no problem with girls this age doing a spa day, that seems more like something you do at a birthday party. You really have to stretch to make this a particularly useful character building or learning activity.
*eta: kids this age don’t have a lot of money savvy either, so some culling of suggestions is inevitable.
There’s some middle ground: obviously you don’t let them to decide to pole dance or hang-glide, but you really can’t restrict them to “things that sound fun and educational to your mom”. It’s exactly like with a single kid: if they have $10 from grandma, you don’t let them buy porn or a big knife with it, but if they want to spend the wad on silly bands or something stupid, you don’t stop them. I mean, is it really a choice if anything your parents don’t like at all is going to be vetoed?
People were not reacting because you said you wouldn’t let her go to that activity. They were reacting because you said you’d pull her out of the troop: no summer camping trip with these girls. No trips to the zoo with them, no craft projects, no cleaning up parks. That’s what seems like a harsh overreaction.
Most of my girls aren’t big on camping. They want SKITS. If they can act and sing or see a performance, that is what they will choose - every time.
Crafts were big when they were little - we spent three months playing with yarn.
The co-leader and I are the community service drivers. Although the girls are all about to become cadets - and I’m giving them Program Aide training next weekend - so they’ll be ready to help next years Daisies.
If it makes you feel superior to tell me to shut up, then knock yourself out.
I was responding to a poster who said that going to a spa for a massage relaxation make her feel good, implying that this would be an appropriate activity for seven year olds, and for using donated money.
My daughter isn’t old enough for scouting, but I will be active in whatever groups she belongs to. I was a leader in scouting, in my church groups, in many other volunteer organizations. I’m an active participant at my daughter’s daycare PTA. (Yes, there are PTA for daycare in Japan) and I am one of the leaders, including being in charge of planning for the Christmas party, one of the two big events for the year. So, I do my share of things. Go bitch about someone else.
Yes, it is that simple and thank you for the heads up. I had been going on my experience as a boy scout, in which we were very careful how we used donated money and how we solicited for donations.
I’ve raised my money myself for many different causes. Flown to Taiwan, on my dime, to give speeches to Rotary Clubs who were supporting a cause which I’m involved with. I will encourage my children to follow suit when they get older.
However, I would never think of hit up strangers for self-indulgent play, and I wouldn’t allow my children to do so either.
I see two questions here: is it “hitting up” people for money and is the activity “worthwhile” or not.
the popular view is that girl scouts is a worthwhile organization and buying the cookies is supporting the troops. This view can be readily found on the net. I found many examples of this, including a response to a bog about someone bitching about Malmart selling cookies which were similar to those sold by the Girl Scouts.
Other people in the comments section of that thread say that they are purchasing cookies to support the troops, and that they are willing to spend more than they would normally for cookies because it’s a good cause. The assumption by many people is that cookies are going to be used for worthwhile activities.
Now let’s look at what the Scouts have to say.
From the cookie FAQ page:
(my bolding)
The reality is that there are many people who are buying the cookies on the assumption that it will be used for supporting worthwhile activities. If instead, that the money is going to simply be used for spa days, or worse, to purchase toys for the kids, then I think that should be communicated upfront to the people who are being asked to purchase the cookies.
Do this as an experiment, tell people next time that the kids are going to use the money to buy toys for themselves, and see how many people will still purchase them.
You are confused about what a “donation” is. Here’s a clue: if someone receives cookies in exchange for their money, they have not made a donation.
You’ve also ignored the many posts detailing where the money goes. Here’s a clue: only a very small percentage goes towards spa days (etc.).
That’s the one where the woman ties your dick into a timber hitch and jams a baguette up your butt, right? Or am I confusing it with an “Eiffel Tower”?
Let me look at the embroidery badge in the Girl Scout handbook…
No.
I am suddenly reminded of the scene from Pet Sematary where the woman gives her husband an explosively good handjob, and afterward, breathless, he asks her where the hell she learned that from, and she says:
“Girl Scouts.”
No, that’s EASIER than a French knot.
Obviously they are paying a premium price for a small amount of cookies because the price includes funding for the GS activities. Otherwise, they could go to Walmart and pay more in line with what the cookies are actually worth in and of themselves.
So? Is it right or wrong? Plus, the percentage may be small, but spa makeover parties or Build-A-Bear parties aren’t as cheap as all that. $10 - $20 per kid, easily.
Seriously, I’ve got a drawer full of ribbons for my needlework and when I see “French knot” I sew a bead on. That shit is for the birds.
I’ve made French knots, most notably on a seascape where beads wouldn’t have worked. Now, before I even think about buying a pattern, I check to see if it requires the damn things, and if so, how many of them. I can do them, and make them look all purty. But I do needlework for relaxation, and trying to make French knots isn’t relaxing.