That is the question that Maya asked me the other night as I was stressing out about a spreadsheet I had to submit to Girl Scouts about troops in my area and where they wanted to have their cookie booths. See, I'm the Service Unit Manager (or SUM for short) for the area and I oversee about 40 troops leaders. This is a volunteer position, in addition to being an actual Troop Leader for Nadia's troop. Well, as SUM, I help Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) oversee things like troop registrations, Fall nuts and candy sales, and Spring cookies. Usually it's not too much work, but this past week has been the exception. Cookie sales are starting up, and as the largest fundraiser for most troops, it's very important for it to run smoothly.
It did NOT run smoothly this past week.
Selling Girl Scout cookies in front of grocery stores is usually the fastest and best way to generate sales. So those locations, and the best days and times, are coveted by troops, especially if there are large fundraising goals by the troop. For instance, if a troop wants to take a trip with the money they raise. Nadia's troop is thinking about going to a dude ranch for a weekend. One that was recommended to us costs about $200 for the weekend per girl. That means, if we are to cover it with our sales, each girl in our troop would have to sell about 200 boxes of cookies to cover her trip. Actually a little more than 200 boxes as we get to keep $0.95 per box of cookies sold. It's easy to sell between 100 and 200 boxes of cookies at just one 3 hour booth.
Anyway, so back to booth locations. The ones at the big stores like Ralphs are coveted, especially on the weekends and during daylight hours. So there is an online program that has all the locations that opens up at a certain time for booth sign up. And this past week, that was on Thursday night at 6:30pm. It's a mad rush to grab up those good spots! The system can crash or lag due to hundreds of troop leaders trying to get online and grab up that Saturday 2pm-5pm booth spot at the large Ralphs grocery story on Ventura Blvd. Those spots can be gone in a matter of seconds.
Well, guess what locations were not in the system at 6:30pm on Thursday night??
OH THE MADNESS! OH THE PANIC (MAINLY ON MY PART)! OH THE HUMANITY!
I don't know how to share the fiasco that ensued without explaining why this was a big deal. On the first night of booth sign ups, you are only allowed to sign up for booths in your immediate Service Unit area. Service Units are divided up by zip code. So, a troop in a zip code neighboring us cannot sign up for booths in our Service Unit on that first night. For our Service Unit, this is a big deal because our grocery stores are really busy and are in a higher income neighborhood. Neighboring Service Units want to come to our grocery stores to booth, The fact that they weren't in the system for the only night that they are reserved for us was a huge deal.
Yes, Girl Scout Cookies Season is SERIOUS BUSINESS, GUYS.
As SUM, I knew this wasn't fair to the troops in my area. So I did what I felt was necessary - had to do a private booth sign up session before the next time the booth scheduler program would be open. All the prime locations were going to be in the system on Saturday night, but it would also be open for any troop to sign up for slots. So, at 8pm on Friday night, I had a private booth sign up session via email.
My email BLEW UP at 8pm! It was first email, first served, and I had 40 troops emailing me exactly at 8pm. I had to go in the order it was received, down to the seconds. Oh but then came the joy of scheduling all the choices that came in. I had 4 charts with locations and dates and times, and two spreadsheets with all of the choices. I had to do all those by hand because it was just easier to have it all spread out on the dining table. Then had to transcribe it all into the final spreadsheet. It was 1am when I finally finished that and sent it to GSGLA. I think I'm still recovering from that evening.
But the WHOLE point of this post came from Maya. Everyone in the family knew of the stress I was going through over this mess. She came out of her room around 11pm and sat down at the table with me. Just to keep me company. After listening to my endless sighs, she asked me, "Why do you do this?"
At various points throughout this fiasco, I had asked myself this too. But it's always the same answer: because I believe in the cause. In this case, it is Girl Scouts. And the biggest problem with Girl Scouts is that there aren't enough leaders. We have girls on waiting lists for new troops to start or for existing ones to have openings. We have a lack of leaders. So, I volunteer because I want to help leaders who have stepped up. Because leading a troop is not easy. It isn't all crafts and cookies all the time!
If not me, who?
My last 4 days of winter vacation was stressful and a blur of dates, times, and troop numbers. But in the end, if I helped a troop earn money to go on a trip or do a service project, then I feel that it is worth it.
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