We provide more than a way to cross supplies off back to school lists and pack healthy lunches. With several easy-to-use programs and timely events, we’re supporting your connection to the schools in your neighborhood.
“Tools for Schools,” which runs through February 12, enters its ninth year with the highest participation since the program’s creation. More than 2,600 schools in our market area benefit as a result.
Once a shopper registers their Price Chopper AdvantEdge card and chooses a school to help, every dollar spent on groceries at Price Chopper’s 128 stores earns points for their school. No saving of receipts is required!
Purchases of any of the 25,000 specially marked brands from participating sponsors, Price Chopper Brand, Central Market Classics, Top Care, Kellogg’s, Unilever, Kimberly Clark, Nestle Purina Pet Care, J.M. Smuckers, General Mills, Kraft, Nabisco, Heinz, Campbell, Quaker, Clorox, and Proctor & Gamble products, earn double points. School supply purchases also will receive double points.
As part of the program Price Chopper awards $500,000 in needed equipment and materials each school year.
“This program is very easy for anyone to participate. It only takes a single time to register one’s AdvantEdge card and involves no paperwork. Every shopper that participates is giving back to their local schools with every shopping trip,” said Christine Tatko, Price Chopper’s Senior Marketing Program Coordinator. “When they purchase specially marked items from participating sponsors they earn double points instantly. It is very encouraging to ‘donate’ their points to a local school. ”
As an added incentive this year, the top 200 schools will receive a free Anchor Audio Mega Vox Pro PA system and stand worth $950.
The program awards Grand prize winners, which receive 350,000 bonus points in addition to other hundreds of other incentives, based on the greatest volume earned and the greatest value-to-student ratio. Last year’s winners were Fonda Fultonville School and Wells Village School.
“This is an awesome opportunity that Price Chopper has given to FFCS and all schools at a time when schools are facing tremendous budget cuts. The community did not let this opportunity pass us by and I am very excited about the products we will be getting,” said Robyn Rose, Tools for Schools Coordinator at Fonda-Fultonville Central School District in New York.
“Price Chopper is a true partner in education to the Wells Village School,” said Linda O’Leary, principal of Wells Village School. “Through the ‘Tools for Schools Program,’ we have supplemented our educational resources which is always a necessity in a small rural school. Everyone at our local store in Granville is accommodating and supportive, no matter what we present. We are truly grateful for the continuing generous support …”
“Thank you so much for running this program. During this time of tight finances, it has aided our students a great deal!” said Center Street Elementary School in Oneonta, New York.
Here are some other opportunities to give back to the schools in your area:
Campbell’s eLabels For Education
A new program available to Chopper Shoppers is offered through The Campbell Soup Company. Price Chopper is among the four retailers (Kroger, ShopRite and Safeway are the others) in the U.S. offering a new, exciting version of Campbell’s Labels for Education program.
After registering your AdvantEdge Card, you receive 100 bonus points for the school (s) of your choice. Points accrue automatically for the purchase of certain brands. Click here for more.
“Campbell’s eLabels For Education is just another way Price Chopper and our Trade Partners stay involved in the surrounding communities. Campbell’s is dedicated to providing necessary supplies and equipment for our schools,” said Tara Mahnk, Marketing Program Coordinator for Price Chopper Supermarkets. “This program provides all the perks of the traditional Labels For Education program in a more relevant and convenient platform for our customers. The gratification is instant and the ease of use makes eLFE customer friendly.”
Tools for Schools Supply Drive now through Sept. 18
Price Chopper’s Tools for Schools Supply Drive makes it possible for all of us to impact our communities’ classrooms, and the nourishment of young minds, through the donation of needed supplies that are available in our stores.
Price Chopper is partnering with the Salvation Army for supply donations now through Sept. 18.
Buy school supplies at any of Price Chopper’s 128 locations and simply drop them into the specially-designed cart at the front of each store. The donated items go to the local children and families that need them with the help of the Salvation Army, which distributes the supplies.
Fill-the-Bus events
Price Chopper will host Fill-the-Bus events at our Latham store on Saturday, August 28 and at our Clifton Park Shopper’s World store Sunday, August 29, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on both days.
“Too often, children of the neediest families in our communities return to school lacking basic tools that make it possible to complete homework assignments and obtain a good education. Most teachers end up spending hundreds of dollars of their own income on supplies, so that all of their students have what is needed to learn and grow,” said Pam Cerrone, Community Relations Manager for Price Chopper Supermarkets.
Educators expect budget cuts to be more noticeable this year as an increasing number of schools reduce instructional materials, consumable supplies and delay technology and textbook purchases in response to the economic downturn.
And the future is uncertain as the last of federal stimulus funds aimed at helping school districts across the nation dries up in the middle of the 2010-2011 school year, according to a recent report by the American Association of School Administrators.
You don’t have to feel helpless, contribute to your local Supply Drive and find a Fill the Bus event nearest to you. Sign up for Tools for Schools and Campbell’s Labels for Education today.