Box Tops provide cart-full of benefits

Each year, the District #54 PTO hosts a Summer Box Tops for Education contest, dubbed the Grocery Cart Giveaway.

The contest begins at the end of each school year and concludes at the end of August.

For every 25 Box Tops for Education a student turns in to District #54, they receive one entry into the Grocery Cart Giveaway.  At the beginning of the school year, one name is drawn as the winner of an entire cart full of Box Tops for Education-affiliated products.

Alexis Knight, a third grader in Miss Mech’s class at White Oak Elementary School, was the winner of this years Grocery Cart Giveaway. Alexis turned in 638 Box Tops for Education.

Alexis’ mother, Terri Knight, who had a big hand in helping Alexis win the grocery cart, is the mother of five, four of whom are currently students within District #54. As a family, Allizabeth Knight, kindergarten; Alexis Knight, third grade; Michael Knight, fifth grade; and Jason Barnett, sixth grade, turned in 2,557 Box Tops. 

District #54 enrolls over 1,250 students, but only around 200 of the students consistently participate in the Box Tops For Education Program.

BTFE is an easy school fundraiser. Consumers simply clip out the Box Top token on any General Mills products they have in their homes and send them to school labeled with their children’s names. White Oak Elementary can redeem each Box Top turned in for 10 cents.

In addition to the Grocery Cart Giveaway, there is a monthly contest. The classroom that collects the most Box Tops for the month becomes the holder of the Travelling Box Top Trophy.

During the 2011-2012 school year, Dist. 54 collected 58,490 Box Tops. In dollars and cents, that equates to $5,849 for the school district, all of which directly benefits the children of the district. This is the money that helps to purchase the things teachers need and want that are not in the school budget.
This year, District #54 PTO hopes to collect 62,000 or more Box Tops.