The cookies are coming.

Starting Friday, Girl Scout cookies will be available for purchase through March 12 during the Year of the Girl, Girl Scout’s 100th anniversary.

At $3.50 a box, customers can help girls build business skills and gain financial knowledge in the form of Thin Mints, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Caramel deLites, Thanks-A-Lot, Lemonades and the brand-new Mango Cremes.

The American Red Cross will partner with the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana this year in Give Blood Get a Cookie, with blood drives Jan. 11-31. Information and locations are available at www.gsnim.org and appointments can be scheduled at www.redcrossblood.org.

Last year, 7,331 girls in the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana’s 22 counties sold more than 1.28 million boxes of cookies, according to Ashley Sharp, marketing assistant for the Northern Indiana-Michiana division.

“It’s extremely important,” Sharp said about the cookie sale. “It’s basically what makes our organization work” by helping cover costs for Girl Scouts members, helping maintain campgrounds and more.

Along with being the organization’s major annual fundraiser, the program also helps teach participating girls goal setting, decision making, money management, business ethics and people skills, according to information from the organization.

For a cookie booth near you, or to participate in the Cookie Share program that provides cookies to military troops and personnel, visit www.gsnim.org. If unaware of a Girl Scout in your area or looking for additional information, call the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana at 800-283-4812.

Reporter Marlys Weaver-Stoesz contributed to this story.