Submitted by Jennifer Puhle for Bedford Schools Box Tops Program
What are these Box Tops I speak of? Box Tops are coupons that can be found on product packaging on hundreds of items including Kleenex tissue boxes, Scott toilet paper wrapping, Hefty products, Boise Polaris paper, and General Mills cereals, to name a few.
A complete list of participating products can be found at https://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/participating-products. Box Tops Bonus coupons can be found on some products for limited times, at Shaw’s and their related stores upon checkout, and there is now a Box Tops App to download to earn even more Box Tops! We can help you set up your app when you visit us on Bedford Day. We are THAT tech savvy.
Each Box Top earns 10 cents for Bedford Schools. To date, the program has raised over $66,000 for Bedford Schools through the Box Tops program and have supported funding of student agendas, the JGMS Homework Club, scholarships for field trips, Smartboards, the JGMS Traverse Wall, and many enrichment activities and programs.
Currently, the biggest way to earn free, easy Box Tops is to enter the Market Basket Box Tops Sweepstakes in which Bedford schools can win 5,000 box tops! In the past, we have won this contest many times. You can pick up an entry form at any Market Basket near the customer service desk twice a year and check our Facebook page, Bedford Box Tops for Education, for info on how and when to enter this contest and more. The Fall contest should have entry forms ready at the customer service desk any day now so be sure to grab some entries for you and 300 of your closest friends and relatives!
Box Tops collection jars are in classrooms now so start sending in your Box Tops! The top 3 advisories at JGMS won parties at the end of last school year. Mr. LoPresti’s 6th-grade advisory has won the JGMS box tops contest many times! Ms. Cowles’ advisory came in at a close 2nd and Ms. Stephen’s advisory came in 3rd but had a great party to thank Brandon Gordon for his and his family’s Box Tops dedication. Brandon’s class has won the yearly contest every year since 2011!
Summer Box Tops Contest at Each of Bedford’s Schools Ends on September 29
To kick off this new school year and my last as Box Tops coordinator, our first prize-winning opportunity will be the Summer Box Tops Contest held at each of Bedford’s schools. Students must hand in their Box Tops in an envelope or baggie with their first and last name clearly written, and placed in their classroom jars at Davis and Lane, their advisory collection container at JGMS, or in the main office at BHS. Staff at JGMS/BHS can enter these contests as well for prizes. THIS CONTEST ENDS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29! Prizes and gift cards will be awarded to top earners and it will also give your advisory a step ahead in the yearlong advisory contest.
Box Top Queen Jenn Puhle is Hanging Up Her Crown
Box Tops for Education celebrated its 20th anniversary recently and it is with a heavy pink and blue heart that this Box Tops Queen will be hanging up her Box Tops Queen tiara after a 10-year run as Box Tops Coordinator. Puhle began working with the Box Tops Committee in New York, strictly being monitored to CUT ALONG THE DOTTED LINES! Having a math and education background and being a meticulous person by nature, it was only fitting that I moved up the ranks to become the Box Tops Coordinator for her children’s school in New York and then quickly becoming involved with the committee upon moving to Bedford. Meg McAllister and I are two peas in a pod and she knew with our combined forces, we could turn this program into something big. Fast forward, we were asked to speak at many Box Tops workshops to share our secrets of success, especially when it comes to motivating middle school students to get involved, which in my forté. Our ideas (the traveling trophy, parties for winning advisories, crazy hat day at JGMS, and including the high school as we paid it forward to them with Labels for Education, guided by Barbara Murphy, as they returned the favor by sending their Box Tops to JGMS) led to dramatic increases in moneys earned from year to year. As of
“Meg McAllister and I are two peas in a pod,” said Puhle, “and she knew with our combined forces, we could turn this program into something big.” Fast forward, the two were asked to speak at many Box Tops workshops to share our secrets of success, especially when it comes to motivating middle school students to get involved, which in Puhle’s forté. Their ideas (the traveling trophy, parties for winning advisories, crazy hat day at JGMS, and including the high school as we paid it forward to them with Labels for Education, guided by Barbara Murphy, as they returned the favor by sending their Box Tops to JGMS) led to dramatic increases in moneys earned from year to year. As of September, 2017, Bedford Schools have earned just over $66,000 since they began the Box Tops for Education program, $60,000 of those earnings from the newlyrevamped program that debuted in 2011.
“Those earnings would not have been possible without the team of people who help BTFE be the success,” said Puhle. “That it is: the students — for clipping and bringing them into their classrooms; the parents who clip as well, some diving into recycling bins while dog walking to nab any that people thought were merely garbage (gasp); the people that reached out to neighbors, family members and long distance friends so they could drop off or mail their box tops in; the teachers and TAs who grabbed box tops off their tissue boxes, peeled box tops off of student passersby’s binders, and created their own competitions (my favorite was Mr. McGrath and Ms. Breakall’s advisories competing where the winning advisory had to serve munchkins to the non winning advisory whilst wearing aprons); faculty and staff who clipped on their own; and the school administration for supporting our efforts and helping us get the word out.
The community has been wonderful in allowing us to put town collection boxes all over so people who do not have children in the schools could still help raise money for our schools. And of course, the Bedford Citizen for showcasing our stories and Bedford TV for airing my plugs on Monday’s evening news, even when they were not in the script. Last but certainly not least, the Box Tops Committee, the largest committee from any Bedford PTO, who gave of their time and weary hands to clip, count, and get the box tops ready for shipping. It truly does take a village. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for making this program the success that it is and putting a smile on my face each time I see one of those teeny coupons and know we are all working together to help our schools, ten cents at a time.
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