Photo by Brenda Sexton

John Lynch helps unpack boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Do, Trefoil, Lemon Coolers, All Abouts and more Girl Scout cookies ready for sale. Sales begin Friday and run through March 19 at Safeway from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends and 4 to 8 p.m. weekdays. Girl Scouts will also be at QFC and Walgreens (starting at 9 a.m. weekends), Grocery Outlet (ending at 6 p.m. Sundays), Papa Murphy's (starting at noon on weekends) and Cenex in Black Diamond and Ace Hardware (noon on weekends). Cookies are also available from 4 to 6 p.m. Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m. at Mt. Rainier National Bank and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at Bank of America. Troops will also be participating in the Operation Cookie Drop program to send cookies to U.S. Naval forces. Cookies purchased for the program will go to Puget Sound area Navy personnel deployed on the U.S.S. Stennis, submarine crews based at Bangor and personnel in military hospitals locally and around the world. Cookies for this program can be purchased and donated at any of the above locations during those specified times. Cookies are $4 a box. Anyone interested in purchasing cookies, but unable to visit one of the sales points, can contact Jennifer Fink at 253-350-1225.