Saline PTA/PTO’s Reach Out To Residents For Box Tops

The Box Tops For Education program has given over $400 million in cash to schools in America since 1996. Saline Area Schools Parent Teacher Associations and Organizations don’t want Saline to miss out, especially now that school money is tight.

Kathy Mahalick was last year’s Box Top coordinator for in Saline. She submitted Box Tops, on behalf of the school, to General Mills in October and March. The first submission was done with little promotion and only granted $150. For the second submission, Mahalick decided to have a competition between classrooms to see who could bring in the most Box Tops. In only a two month period, Heritage earned $2107.20 in cash.

“I realized we are just throwing away money and right now, we can’t afford to do that,“ Mahalick said. “Can you imagine if everyone with or without children collected the Box Tops off their packages and turned them in to their school?”  

Box Tops For Education is a program that offers ten cents to schools for every Box Top turned in. Box Tops are a small pink and black image on boxed grocery products, about the size of a bar code. Originally, Box Tops were known mostly to be on boxes of breakfast cereal, but currently there are hundreds of items and brands that offer them.

“It is amazing how they add up to thousands of dollars,” Mahalick said.

For those who don’t want to spend the time cutting up their boxed products to send them in, the Box Tops For Education website makes it easy to make sure your products are going to the school of your choice. There are five different ways to earn cash for your local schools.

“What is great is that you don’t only have to clip Box Tops to help out your school,” said Dawn Ducca, last year’s Fundraising Coordinator and the 2011/2012 PTA President for. “Through the Box Top website, you can earn points for your school while shopping for your favorite items.” 

That includes online shopping, as well as partner companies like Barnes & Noble, which now offers Box Tops through their Reading Room. Pleasant Ridge brought in $968 during an end of the school year drive and class competition and has already earned $669 for next school year.

Classes may be out for summer, but people can still support their their schools, Mahalick said.

“What if kids reached out to their grandparents, aunts and uncles and neighbors that may not have children, but most likely use at least one of the hundreds of products redeemable for cash?” 

Deb Urquhart, past PTA President at Pleasant Ridge Elementary and incoming President at Heritage School, also supports the campaign.

“Box Tops help support the PTA which supports many of the amazing programs and activities that are offered at Saline schools,” she said.

For instance, at Pleasant Ridge last year, the PTA supported school field trips, paid for assemblies, and took item requests for teachers.  One of which was a new SMART Board for the Special Education classrooms. 

“People just assume the district pays for all of those things,” Urquhart said.

For more information about how to support Saline school PTA/PTOs, visit the Box Tops For Education website. Or, simply collect Box Tops throughout the summer and turn them in to the school of your choice at the beginning of the school year.