ANCHORAGE, Alaska— Selling Girl Scout cookies is normally a foolproof business model, but the coronavirus outbreak has cooled sales for Alaska scouts.
The Girl Scouts of Alaska looked for help and the group is expected to receive a federal recovery loan to help compensate for lost cookie sales.
The Anchorage Daily News reported First National Bank Alaska facilitated the federal Paycheck Protection Program loan.
As a result of the shutdown, about 144,000 unsold boxes have filled the homes of Alaska scouting families.
Leslie Ridle, head of the Girl Scouts group, told the newspaper that the halt in sales strained the cash that pays for nearly everything that they do in Alaska, including scholarships for 3,500 girls and wages for 20 full-time employees.
The loan allows the organization's employees to keep working and provide online programs for Girl Scouts stuck at home.