HOW I GOT TO GO
The year was 1957, I was 10 years old and loved being in the brownies. When cookie-selling time came around I was so excited to find out that if you sold 40.00 dollars worth of cookies you could go to camp free. I wanted to go to camp more than anything. Back then a box of cookies was a dollar, which was a lot of money for a box of cookies that wasn’t homemade.
But I was determined and wanted to try. I got my first dozen boxes and set out to ask everyone on our street that didn’t have a girl in the club; if they wanted to buy a box of cookies and why I was selling them. I didn’t have much luck on our street and asked if I could go on the next street over to try and sell some. Mom said only if I could get my older cousin to go with me, I could not go alone. None of my cousins would go with me so Dad said he would take me on Saturday.
In the meantime, I asked all my relatives to buy some so I could go to camp free. I sold a few boxes to my parents and grandparents. But it wasn’t all the cookies I had. Saturday Dad took me on the next street over from where we lived and I went from door to door. The cookies weren’t as popular back then as they are today. It took a lot of walking but I sold my first dozen boxes. I had a hard time waiting to get the next dozen boxes so I could go out again.
The next week I went to stay with my grandparents and my colder cousin went with me on the street where they lived. I did better this time and sold all 12 boxes in one day. That got me thinking if dad would let me come to his work on lunch break I might be able to sell some. Mom didn’t like the idea much but my cousin said she would go with me. And the factory where dad worked was just down the street from grandma’s house. I sold another dozen boxes at the factory. I was only 4 boxes away from my goal of 40. I had 3 days left to sell them, but mom wouldn’t let dad buy them she said it was my idea and I should finish on my own.
I talked my brother into going with me to the man’s house at the end of our street. There was an old man living there that we were afraid of. He would yell at us if a ball happened to go into his yard, dad said we shouldn’t bother him and to not play close to his fence. But I was desperate to go to camp free and was willing to try. We walked to his gate and my brother wouldn’t go in so I walked up to his door by myself. He was sitting on his porch he wanted to know what I was doing there. I started my talk of what I was selling and why I was doing it. That I really wanted to go to camp and selling 40 boxes of cookies was the only way I could do it.
He asked how many my parents had bought. I told him 2, that mom said I had to do this on my own. He wanted to know how many I had sold so far. I told him 36 and had 4 boxes left to sell by Friday. He wanted to know what would happen if I didn’t sell them all, I told him I would not get to go to camp. He said he liked my bravery to come to him when all the kids were afraid of him. I told him my dad said I should be bold but respectful accept whatever answer you gave me. He grinned and said he liked my dad and he bought 2 boxes. He also said for me to go 3 streets over and tell his brother he said to buy the last 2 boxes. I thanked him and ran all the way home to ask my dad to take me over to this other house. Dad laughed when I told him what the man had said and agreed to take me and dinner.
I sold the last 2 boxes the night before the contest was over and got to go to camp. It was everything I had thought it would be and more. I got to stay a whole week and meet a bunch of girls from all over the city. We did a lot of camping stuff to earn badges for our uniform sash. I got to fly up to be a girl scout the next school year, it was great.
When I grew up and had girls of my own I decided to start a brownie troop in our neighborhood so my girls could experience the joy of scouting. There are many organizations for girls to learn skills they will need out in the adult world, scouting is a fun way to gain those skills.
Leave a Reply