Local Girl Scouts are hoping that the sale of cookies this year will help send them to camp.

The official sale of Girl Scout cookies kicked off on Jan. 4 and will continue until March 13.

Brewton is part of the Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama, which includes Escambia County along with 29 other counties.

Proceeds from the sale of cookies will go to support the girls in their future activities, while at the same time, it gives each girl self-esteem, according to Girl Scout officials. Girl Scout cookies have been around for the past 94 years.

Macy Lowman, who is a Girl Scout troop leader in the Brewton area, said scouts are going to sell as many as they can between now March 13.

“We use these funds in several different ways,” she said. “We will be able to purchase awards and send the girls to camp. There are at least 60 girls in our area. We hope that we will have enough to send the girls to camp next summer.”

Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, girls learn to manage money, set goals and develop marketing skills. In fact, the girls learn to run a business. Each group sets its own goals and follows them into a plan leading to those goals. Girl Scouts use the money raised to fund a special project or to plan a trip.

Proceeds from the sale of cookies will go to support programs for girls and training for volunteers across the area. This year, Girl Scouts in south Alabama are selling cookies made by ABC Bakers, one of only two licensed Girl Scout cookie bakers in the country.

The cookie flavors include Thin Mints, Carmel Delites, peanut butter sandwiches, Lemonades, Thanks-A-Lot, and the newest cookie, Shout Outs. Each box sells for $3.50, and the proceeds from the sales will be used by the troop that sells them.

This year the Girl Scouts are asking the public to share a “gift of caring,” that will be delivered to the Girl Scouts and donated to local senior citizen centers, women’s and children’s shelters, food banks, family crisis and abuse centers, and other charity organizations. They will also be accepting donations of cookies to send to servicemen and women who are serving in the military. overseas.

Through Operation Cookie Share, scouts will ask those people who buy cookies to get one extra box to be given to someone who can’t buy them. Donations will be given to charities the buyers choose.