I suggests you take on a Girl Scout troop and try to give a groups of 6-10 year olds an alternate way for everyone to earn money for camp. Especially when some come from struggling families in very poor neighborhoods.
Given the lack of parental support and limited opportunities for elementary and middle school girls to go safely and independently out into the community to earn money, the organized cookie selling program is a great equalizer of opportunity for all the girls to participate.
The cookie season only runs about 6 weeks a year, which is good. Girl Scouts may ONLY raise money for their troops or Council, which is also good.
The cookie badges guide the girls into age-appropriate skills to run their own small group business. The activities help them develop a business plan and budgeting goals, to work as a team, and to meet adults as customers under the safe protection of trained adults in charge.
Cookie selling IS their own small business and has been for almost 75 years.
And they become a lot more good self reliant citizens than the dance schools here that push kids to earn thousands of dollars for costumes and the sports teams where the parents run concession stands to raise thousands of dollars for their kid’s uniforms and traveling leagues.
Given my experience with pushing overpriced popcorn for my Boy Scout, give me $4 a box cookies to sell ANY day.
And for every principled poster here who has a suggested comment to make to a child selling cookies, I have heard equal comments from liberals and homosexuals to the little Boy Scouts selling popcorn.
I’ve done it with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts (for more than 10 years), so I know what I’m talking about. We sold locally-made pies and increased our take by 50%. The cookies are just as over-priced, and the kids get hosed on the commission the same whether its cookies or popcorn. It all goes to support the ever-increasing overhead at national HQ.
We also took (with our own sons) their “Personal Management” merit badge work and showed them how to run their chores and odd-jobs like a business.
What’s your Scouting leadership involvement?