By Katrina Grant
We all know we can’t resist when we see the Girl Scouts outside of a store selling their cookies. They always have our favorite kind.
For one Girl Scout, she took cookie-selling to a whole new level. In just six short weeks –mostly weekends — Leesa Hovius of Tabernacle sold 1,500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Her total was the second-highest among the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey.
To help reach her record number of boxes Hovius, who has been a Girl Scout for six years and is 11 years old, set up booths in front of stores and went door-to-door.
“We did a lot of booths, a lot of booths,” Robin Hovius, mother of Leesa Hovius said. “The Girl Scouts set up the booths for them. We can’t pick the spots, it’s like a lottery system. We could only pick the first two booths.”
Hovius and her mother would take the booths that others did not want. Some of the spots were not as busy, but they still took advantage of them. They also sold the cookies for the whole six weeks.
“We sold right up until the very end,” Hovius said. “Some people would stop after only three weeks, but we kept going.”
There were 30 girls who sold more than 1,000 boxes. The money from the sales was used for many activities that the Girl Scouts do throughout the year.
“We went to a resort in the Poconos, Woodloch Pines, skiing in the Catskills, Rocking Horse Ranch, camping and to museums overnight,” Hovius said.
The Girl Scout council sells the cookies once a year around January and February. Some councils sell twice a year at different times.
“There are some councils that will start selling soon,” Hovius said.
For selling so many boxes of cookies, Hovius was able to participate in a photo shoot sponsored by the Girl Scouts at Camp Kettle Run in Medford. The photos will be used for the cookie materials next year. Hovius was very happy about the photo shoot and the number of boxes she sold.
“I felt really great,” Leesa Hovius said. “The goal was number one, but number two is really good. It was a lot of persevering and cookie booths. It was awesome. I felt special.”
“It was a nice way to honor the girls who go above and beyond,” Robin Hovius said. “The photo shoots were something special only the Girl Scouts could provide.”
Next year the goal is to be number one, but Hovius wants her other daughter to be able to participate in the photo shoots.
“Leesa has a little sister who sold over 300 boxes. We might have to sacrifice number one next year so they can both get over 1,000 and participate in the photo shoots,” Hovius said.
