Cookie distribution chaotic fun
Girl Scout troops working hard
BY ELIZABETH PRATA SALVETTI

It is that time of year when the Girl Scouts come knocking on your door. The girls ask you to order a box or two of their famous cookies, proceeds of which help support the organization. You do, and look forward to the day when those Girl Scouts will come back around, delivering your goodies. But did you ever wonder how all those cookies got from the cookie factory to your dessert plate? Ask Tracy Ross, Cookie Supervisor Tracy Ross of Gray. She knows.
"On Saturday, March 2nd, we received the cookie orders for forty troops," Ross said. The Nidoba Service Unit, which serves New Gloucester, Gray, Cumberland, North Yarmouth, and Pownal (Falmouth, Yarmouth, and Freeport are in the Unit but have a different cookie supervisor) worked a full day receiving, sorting, and inspecting cookie orders. Ross and her volunteer crew checked in 32,100 boxes of cookies.

"It was an amazing scene," Ross said. The trucks rolled up, and 2,600 cases were stacked eight feet high. Then the volunteers set to work comparing the boxes to orders per troop. Still not done, the workers then needed to sort per individual order.

Ross said that everyone came on time and they had a good time sorting. The cookie proceeds support summer camps, programs and services. "March is National Girl Scout month," Ross said. "On March 12, 1912 the organization was formed. Back then, the girls baked the cookies in their homes and delivered them in little wagons." A lot has changed since then. Bisson Moving and Storage lent a huge moving truck to deliver the cases. Ann and Steve Arsenault of Northland Express Trucking donated their warehouse on Route 100 in Auburn, which was "pretty well filled up with cookie boxes," said Ross. Chuck Turner of Gray Thriftway also donated all the brown bags used to put the orders together.

Asked how it feels to be finished with her first major cookie distribution, Ross said, "It's not over for me! As Cookie Supervisor, I am also the cookie cupboard. I house the local supply at my home.