'It's a win-win for everybody': Grocery store buys $15k worth of Girl Guide cookies

It isnt easy to sell cookies to the community when youre supposed to stay six feet apart, but a grocery store in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is making fundraising a little easier for local Girl Guides.

The store bought some to hand out to essential workers, the rest will be sold on shelves

CBC News Posted: Apr 03, 2020 5:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: April 3, 2020

Shoppers can now buy Girl Guide cookies at Terrington Co-op in Happy Valley-Goose Bay after the store bought more than 3,000 boxes. (Submitted by Heather Mesher-Brown)

It isn't easy to sell cookies to the community when you're supposed to stay six feet apart, but a grocery store in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is making fundraising a little easier for local Girl Guides.

Terrington Co-opbought $15,000 worth of cookies or 3,168 boxes and is placing them on their shelves for others to buy.

More than 4,000 boxes of cookies were sent to Mesher-Brown's house. (Submitted by Mesher-Brown)

"I started crying," said Heather Mesher-Brown, the deputy provincial commissioner of Newfoundland and Labrador Girl Guides. "I don't know if it was tears of joy or tears of relief."

Mesher-Brown said she was sent thousands of boxes to sell but COVID-19 was making it impossible to sell traditionally, door-to-door. So she started posting online, hoping some local businesses might buy a few boxes.

"I cannot actually believe they are buying all of them," Mesher-Brown told CBC News.

Heather Mesher-Brown is the deputy provincial commissioner of Newfoundland and Labrador Girl Guides. (Submitted by Heather Mesher-Brown)

The kind act has also brought smiles to the girls' faces, who got suited up in their uniform Friday evening to drive past the grocery store to give their thanks.

Purchasing the trademark vanilla and chocolate cookies will ensure the members can meet, make crafts, go to camp and other outings.

"We just thought it was a neat thing to do and we could do it easy," said George Andrews, president of the board for the Terrington Co-op.

Andrews said the board was initially approached by the Girl Guides who wanted to offer them empty boxes, as Terrington Co-op had started to run low when they implemented their delivery service. He said the board declined due to health and safety concerns, but instead agreed to buy all the cookies the Girl Guides had.

A middle aged man wears a bright jacket inside a grocery store, posing in front of the produce. — Terrington Co-op board president George Andrews says buying all the cookies seemed like the right thing to do. (John Gaudi/CBC )

Although the cookies will be displayed on shelves for the public to purchase, Andrews said Terrington Co-op also purchased some to hand out to essential workers in the community.

Cookies were dropped off at the hospital, police station, fire hall and the military police.

Grocery store online order backlog continues during COVID-19 crisis

"We are trying to do whatever we can to help the community."

"It's a win-win for everybody."

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