These Girl Scouts Sold More Cookies Than Most Others In South Jersey

SOUTH JERSEY — If you bought Girl Scout Cookies earlier this year from a Girl Scout in Gloucester, Cumberland or Salem counties, it is quite possible you bought them from one of the seven girls we're about to tell you about.

That's because these seven girls from Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem counties beat out roughly 12,000 other girls to be among the top 10 sellers of Girl Scout Cookies in Central and Southern New Jersey in 2022 in those regions, according to the Girl Scouts.

Below are more details:

• Shelby Bush, 14, of Vineland, sold 2,638 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies
• Jane Conway-Grobman, 13, of Pitman, sold 3,003 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies
• Bella Keyser, 9, of National Park, sold 4,217 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies
• Cadence Laning, 9, of Monroeville, sold 2,917 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies
• Chasitey Maher, 14, of Deptford, sold 3,209 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies
• Addison Mancill, 15, of Vineland, sold 2,847 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies
• Annabelle Webb, 11, of Dorchester, sold 4,025 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies

Webb was also a top 10 seller of Girl Scout Cookies in Central and Southern New Jersey in 2021, the Girl Scouts said. Combined, these girls' efforts, plus those of Shayne Ventura of Haddonfield, as well as Savannah Spinelli and Emma Tomlin of Atlantic County, sold nearly 33,000 boxes of the cookies in 2022, the Girl Scouts said.

While the Girl Scouts' achievements are certainly notable, any Girl Scout who sells cookies is learning skills that may prove valuable now and in her later years, according to Kimberly Bryson, the Girl Scout Council of Central and South Jersey's Chief Operating Officer.

"The Girl Scout Cookie Program provides girls with the opportunity to learn five valuable life skills: Goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics," she told Patch. "Through the Cookie Program, girls become tenacious entrepreneurs by learning what it takes to run a promising business."

Girl Scout Troops often choose to donate proceeds from their cookie sales to support local organizations or to offset some of the costs associated with educational field trips and similar experiences, Bryson continued.

"Whatever the specific goals and outcomes, girls gain skills that are essential to leadership, success and life," she said. "Although the cookie program may only last for a short season each year, it has a long-lasting impact in the lives of girls and their futures."

The Girl Scouts Council of Central and South Jersey covers a nine-county swath of the Garden State that starts in Middlesex, Monmouth and Mercer counties and includes all points south in New Jersey, the Girl Scouts website indicates.

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