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Girl Scouts of Western New York celebrates entrepreneurship with Paula's Donuts

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Tue, Aug 11th 2020 11:20 am

Public can enjoy limited-edition Girl Scout Cookie-inspired doughnuts – and enter to win a year’s worth of Girl Scout cookies

Paula’s will donate 50% of sales from special 2-day promotion to benefit Girl Scouts’ Council Opportunity fund for girls

On Aug. 13-14, Paula’s Donuts will offer doughnuts made with real Girl Scout Cookies in mint chocolate and coconut caramel flavors from Girl Scouts of Western New York while supplies last. GSWNY will receive 50% of the sales. During the two-day event, the public will also receive a flyer on each box of doughnuts to learn about how to enroll girls and adult volunteers in Girl Scouts.

A press release said, “There is great excitement over this limited edition promotion as the initial Paula’s Donuts social media announcement post generated over a half a million views.”

The public can purchase the limited edition doughnuts (while supplies last) from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at all three of Paula’s locations: 2319 Sheridan Drive, Tonawanda; 8560 Main St., Buffalo; and 936 Union Road, West Seneca.

The press release noted, “The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the largest girl-led entrepreneurship program in the world and teaches girls five important skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. The cookie program plays a big role in transforming girls into the change-making, barrier breaking leaders of tomorrow as they learn essential life skills that will stay with them forever, and help them continually face challenges with resilience and creativity.

“Paula is the definition of what it means to be an entrepreneur. She established her business in 1996 and has grown it to become a famous Buffalo-staple with multiple locations that are beloved and celebrated locally and across the country for its delicious treats. Paula runs the family-owned and operated business with her amazing daughters who are all an inspiration to girls and young women across WNY.

“Paula endured a rough start to her entrepreneurial journey and persevered, worked day and night, seven days a week for five years to start, wondering if business would ever pick up. She recalled, ‘When I first opened, a man approached me and asked are you the owner? I said yes, and thought he was going to say something positive and he said you’re never going to make it! I said, ‘WATCH ME!’ ”

When Paula was asked what being an entrepreneur meant to her and why she decided to become one, she stated, “It means everything to me – I love my family, business, being my own boss, and being able to decide which direction we’re going to go and when I make mistakes I learn to work smarter and figure it out; you have to figure it out and turn it around. In the past, I worked for a lot of different people and I didn’t like the way I was treated as a woman and especially as a ‘woman in a kitchen as a baker’ and it was very frustrating because, often when I would speak out about improvements that could be made to make the business better, I wasn’t listened to.”

Paula has taken her experiences and forged her own path, one where she listens to and values her staff, customers and community. Paula’s is just as famous for its delicious treats as they are for giving back to make the WNY community a better place. Paula said she believes that, “If you can’t give as much as you want to, you should always give something and if everyone helps a little bit, it goes a long way.”

“Girl Scouts of Western New York thanks Paula’s Donuts for their generosity in collaborating to make limited-edition Girl Scout-inspired doughnuts with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit girls through the GSWNY Council Opportunity Fund,” said Alison Wilcox, Girl Scouts of Western New York CEO. “We are always encouraged by the kindness of our Western New York community and celebrate Paula’s for supporting girls who depend on the Opportunity Fund to have lifechanging, girl-led programs, experiences, and learning.”

Girl Scouts also has six new Entrepreneurship Badges for girls in grades K-12 such as Daisy Toy Business Starter and Brownie Budding Entrepreneur. Girls develop an entrepreneurial mindset as they engage in age-appropriate exercises that help them create and pitch a product or service that solves a problem. They build their own business plan and think about topics such as production, cost, profit, marketing and competition. Three in four of today's girls are interested in becoming an entrepreneur, but more than half also say they need more support in this area. These badges are designed to fill the gap.

The advice that Paula would give to girls and women who want to become successful entrepreneurs is, “Get educated and you have to be tough; go with your heart; be a good, moral person; and let that guide you. Women support women, help each other and have respect for each other; it doesn’t have to be a competition to help each other.”

This limited-edition Girl Scout Cookie-inspired doughnut promotion would not be complete without offering Western New Yorkers the opportunity to win a year’s worth of Girl Scout Cookies – 52 random variety packages! To enter to win the cookies, customers who visit the Paula’s Donuts locations must scan a special QR code using their smartphone located inside and outside the stores to complete an entry form. No purchase or Girl Scout affiliation is necessary, but the winner must reside in Girl Scouts of Western New York’s nine-county area (Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans or Wyoming). Cookies must be redeemed in November, in-person at one of GSWNY’s main service center locations in Batavia, Buffalo, Jamestown, Lockport or Rochester. A random winner will be selected. The winner must have filled out the entry form completely and correctly and will be contacted by phone and/or email. The contest opens at midnight Thursday, Aug. 13, and closes at 11:59 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14. More details can be found here.

Note: Girl Scout Cookies are not for sale at this time.

To learn more about the special Girl Scout Cookie giveaway, girl membership or adult volunteerism, visit gswny.org or call 1-888-837-6410.

Girl Scouts of Western New York (GSWNY) serves nearly 15,000 girls and 7,000 adult volunteers across the GSWNY jurisdiction. To volunteer, reconnect, donate or join, visit www.gswny.org or call 1-888-837-6410.

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