Two of my sisterchicks are teachers: Staci for 6th grade Science (she is a BIG science-geek) and Becky for kindergarten. I used to substitute teach and I think teaching has got to be one of the hardest jobs ever. Most of the middle schoolers scare me because they are taller than I am. But the kindergarteners are like babies and you’re constantly tying shoes and wiping noses!
After my first day subbing for kindergarten, I got home, laid down on the couch and thought, “I’m going to send that teacher a thank-you note. I didn’t know how hard her job was!”
And to make it worse, I know most teachers have to supplement their teaching supplies and creativity with their own pocketbooks! Staci is always posting about how many pencils she got for a penny or what great deals she found for her classroom. How sad that our teachers have to buy stuff for our kids!
Well, lots of companies are trying to help those teachers and schools defray the cost. One of those organizations is Box Tops For Education. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. You clip the tops of General Mills products and then turn it in. General Mills then donates up to $20,000 to your school. It takes a lot of work, but $20,000 is nothing to sneeze at.
Well, Box Tops for Education has upped the ante this year. Now you can earn up to $60,000 by participating in 3 different kinds of programs: regular old clipping the box tops, the Reading Room (which is coming in September) or the BT4E marketplace. (So, that would be $20,000 in each program…)
The idea for the Marketplace is that you just do your regular shopping (like uh, I don’t know, BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING) via your favorite online retailers (uh, like Office Max and Target and about 70 other stores) and then get up to 8% back to your school.
What a great idea! I wish I’d thought of that. You online shop anyway, might as well give some money back to your kids’ school, right? I went to Barnes & Noble via the Marketplace, bought some new books and B&N gave 3% to Becky’s school (sorry, Stace!). That’s only about $1.50 but if the whole school was shopping via the Marketplace, those small amounts would rack up quickly. I asked Becky about it and she said she gets about$50 a month just for HER classroom from Box Tops For Education. Now that’s a deal!
So, go sign up your kids’ school while you’re doing your shopping for school (or a new purse, or lamp or whatever…), your kids and their school will benefit!
And while you’re there, check out the entire BT4E website, they’ve got recipes, parenting articles and special promotions to earn bonus boxtops! Like September 2-November 2, you get additional Box Tops for purchasing anything via the Marketplace!