Pim Marie Anorak Neill became enamored with selling Girl Scouts cookies at just 3 years old, long before she was old enough to become a Scout.
Now a 6-year-old from Mt. Washington, Pim is the top seller in the organization’s 27-county Western Pennsylvania district.
Pim has sold 106,800 boxes of Girl Scout cookies since the selling began on Jan. 6 and and will continue selling until the Girl Scout cookie season ends on March 22, said her father, Lucas “Luke” Anorak-Neill.
“It has been the best thing ever for her confidence,” Anorak-Neill said of Pim, who has mental health challenges, anxiety issues and developmental delays.
Pim has sold more boxes of Girl Scout cookies in one season than any other girl in the history of the Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania district, said Lisa Shade, vice president of brand marketing for the Scouts.
Anorak-Neill said Pim also surpassed the state record of selling 8,378 boxes of cookies in a a single season. Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania could not confirm the previous state record.
She has done it through a combination of door-to-door sales, social media outreach and through her family and churches she attends, Anorak-Neill said.
For all the boxes of cookies she has sold, Anorak-Neill said Pim has about 15,000 individual customers, whose average purchase is about five boxes.
“Pim’s incredible sales achievement is a testament to her enthusiasm for cookie season. Her success will help her troop’s dreams of going to camp, while also supporting our council in continuing to provide impactful programs and opportunities for girls across the region,” Shade said.
“And Pim isn’t alone. Girl Scouts across our council are out there working just as hard, hosting cookie booths, going door-to-door, and building skills that will last a lifetime,” Shade said.
Pim has done all of this in her first year as a Girl Scout Daisy, which is for girls in kindergarten and first grade, Anorak-Neill said.
She was too young last year for a Girl Scout troop in her area and did not feel welcome at another troop. They turned to Girl Scout headquarters in Pittsburgh for assistance and they were steered to an age-appropriate troop in the Baldwin-Whitehall area, Anorak-Neill said.
“The girls are great. She’s been invited to parties and is included in activities,” Anorak-Neill said.
The youngster has become a celebrity of sorts through social and traditional media. She has been featured in a story in People magazine, USA Today, various publications across the nation and television stations.
It also does not hurt that she has 60,800 followers on her Life of Pim TikTok page, which Anorak-Neill created before Pim started selling the cookies.
Girl Scouts can get their own website to sell their cookies and Pim does that on her page. They added another layer of social media by making videos to the TikTok account that mentions buying cookies from her, Anorak-Neill said.
They also have plans to see Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor this Friday to celebrate her cookie-sale prowess, Neill said.
“She deserves to be celebrated. We are embracing it,” said Anorak-Neill.
Surpassing goals
Pim initially had set some cookie-sale goals for herself so she could earn “Girl Scout dollars” — 10 of those dollars for each $100 of cookies sold, Anorak-Neill said. When she sold 2,026 boxes, she became qualified for the chance to win a free trip to Niagara Falls, a site that means a lot to her parents.
She then set her sights on selling 5,000 boxes so she could go to an area Girl Scout camp with a family member for two-days, Anorak-Neill said. By selling 10,000 boxes, she will be able to earn enough Girl Scout dollars to go with a family member for an additional two days.
They also had the opportunity to use the Girl Scout dollars to see the Monster Jam truck show at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and plan to use some of those Girl Scout dollar to see the Disney on Ice show in Pittsburgh, Anorak-Neill said. Some of the Girl Scout dollars were earned through a fall fundraiser involving sales of chocolate and magazines, Anorak-Neill said.
For Pim’s family, there was an extra incentive to earn the Girl Scout dollars, because they are faced with significant medical bills from the treatment for her biological father, Don, 64, who needs a double-lung transplant, Anorak-Neill said.
“She can still go with her friends because we can afford it. She’s having so many opportunities that she would not have otherwise … because we could not afford them,” Anorak-Neill said.
