Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Sad story, sweet end: Public snaps up cookies

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Wednesday, March 1, 2000

Sad story, sweet end: Public snaps up cookies
IceRays buy 60 cases, give some away at game, others to charity
By Mark Button, and Jennifer Stump
Caller-Times
The first call came in at 6:15 a.m.
   By the time the sun rose just before 7 a.m., all 720 boxes of Girl Scout cookies had been sold.
   The five 6-, 7- and 8-year-old girls who faced a cookie calamity Friday night when they were told by the Memorial Coliseum concessionaire that they could not sell cookies at the IceRays game received good news Tuesday.
   Troop 684 Leader Pamela Kasperitis was besieged with offers Tuesday morning from Corpus Christi residents and businesses offering to buy boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Offers poured in throughout the day, Kasperitis said.
   The hockey team came to the rescue early, buying the 60 cases, or $2,160 worth, of cookies. The IceRays then threw several boxes to fans who attended Tuesday night's game at the coliseum. Team public relations director Mike Modugno said the bulk of the cookies would be donated to local charities, including Driscoll Children's Hospital.
   "We thought the girls were going to sell their cookies on Friday," said IceRays principal owner and general manager Bill Davidson. "Since they didn't get that opportunity, we wanted to see the project through - even if it meant purchasing the cookies ourselves."
   IceRays personnel, however, were not allowed to distribute the cookies Tuesday night until after the concession stand closed, according to the contract between the vending company and the city. The coliseum's concession stands do not close until seven minutes before the end of the game.
   Meanwhile, the City Council directed its staff to review the concessions contract for Noble Food Services, which has an exclusive deal with the city to sell food and beverages at the coliseum and Bayfront Plaza Convention Center.
   The council may want to give non-profit organizations like the Girl Scouts the right to sell items at the coliseum.
   Overwhelmed with calls
   Kasperitis said she could not believe the support her Brownie troop received from the community.
   "I have logged more than 60 calls and I have two pages of messages to return," said Kasperitis, whose husband, Pat Kasperitis, owns a share of the IceRays. Their law firm, Williams, Kasperitis & Gowan, also represents the hockey team.
   Pamela Kasperitis' daughter, 7-year-old Kimberlyn, is a member of Troop 684.
   The troop ordered the cookies in advance to sell Friday at the coliseum after they received permission from the IceRays, who didn't OK the fund raiser with the coliseum's concessionaire, Wolfgang Buschang, general manager of Noble Food Services.
   As the girls were unloading the cookies Friday, Buschang told them and their parents that only his company can sell food and beverages at the coliseum.
   That left the troop with more than $2,100 worth of cookies that they would have had to sell by March 16 or pay back the difference to the Girl Scouts Council.
   "I thought I might sell 20 cases of these at most," Kasperitis said, "and that I would have to figure out what to do with the rest."
   Then the phone started ringing.
   In addition to the 60 cases that were bought by the IceRays, the troop sold 113 boxes of cookies to individuals - mostly senior citizens, Kasperitis said - by 10 a.m. Tuesday.
   About 45 of those 113 boxes also will be donated to Driscoll Children's Hospital, she said, because dozens of callers requested that the boxes they purchase go toward charity.
   As the day continued, so did the phone calls.
   Kasperitis said she will not turn away anyone who wants to buy cookies, but her troop will not see any of the profits.
   "Our goal was to sell the 60 cases," Kasperitis said. "After that, we didn't think the profits were ours to keep."
   The troop plans to donate the rest of its profits to charities, including underprivileged Girl Scout Troops and the Corpus Christi Women's Shelter.
   The troop typically earns 40 cents for each $3 box of cookies sold. The girls are part of a first-year Brownie troop.
   In January, they sold 1,170 boxes of cookies by going door to door.
   "They're new little Brownies," Kasperitis said. "They've learned a lot from doing this and from this incident. If we hadn't sold them, it would have left them in debt."
   Community offers
   Joe Cantwell, general sales manager of Allen Samuels Chevrolet, was one of the business leaders who offered to buy all 720 boxes of cookies after the IceRays already had bought them.
   "Who the heck would run off the Girl Scouts?" Cantwell said. "I told her I'd buy all of them."
   Mike Montiel, sales associate at the Love Dodge dealership in Alice, said he remembers his daughters selling Girl Scout cookies. He offered to buy some of the boxes of cookies. "The poor Brownie girls," he said. "I know what they went through."
   Gene Pasahow, vice president of the Corpus Christi Senior Softball Association, offered to let the troop sell cookies at the association's opening night Monday at Kiwanis Field on North Beach. Pasahow said no one can resist buying Girl Scout cookies.
   "I just bought two boxes of cookies at Sam's and I ate one on the way home," he said.
   Council's review
   Councilman John Longoria said that as long the Brownies weren't selling hot dogs or competing with the coliseum's concessions, allowing non-profits to sell items such as cookies shouldn't affect Noble Food Service's business.
   Councilman Javier Colmenero said he would like to see the contract reworked to allow just that.
   "There are many non-profits that can certainly benefit from these types of activities," Colmenero said.
   City Manager David Garcia said the city approves the concessionaire's contract on an annual basis and that it was being reviewed.
   Troop's reward
   Brownie Troop 684 has something to look forward to besides increased cookie sales.
   Kasperitis had told the girls they could have a party if they sold all of the boxes.
   "The girls are very happy," she said.
   "Now they're excited because they get to have pizza."


Staff writer Jonathan Osborne contributed to this report. Staff writers Mark Button and Jennifer Stump can be reached at 886-3683 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com or stumpj@caller.com

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