School collects box tops to help pay for new desks

Published 6:00 am Thursday, March 22, 2001

Little by little, Loyd Star elementary students and teachershave been ‘saving their pennies’ during the school year to buydesks for their new school building.

Through the General Mills Box Tops for Education program, theschool will receive 10 cents for every specially-marked box topcollected.

Students, parent and teachers have been hard at work all yeargathering the box tops, which can be found on General Mills andBetty Crocker products, including cereals, yogurts, desserts andmany other types of commonly used products.

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“It’s real easy to do. Most parents already have these at homein their cabinets, so all they have to do is cut the box top offand send it to us,” said Deborah R. Stietenroth, programcoordinator.

Stietenroth hopes the goal of 10,000 box tops will be reached bythe end of the year, but she knows it won’t be accomplished withoutthe help of the community.

“We only have 3,250 box tops now, so we really need some help ifwe’re going to be able to collect enough to buy desks,” shesaid.

Anyone can help the students with the fundraiser by cutting outthe Box Tops for Education and sending them to Loyd Star AttendanceCenter, 1880 Highway 550 NW, Brookhaven, MS 39601.

When enough box tops are collected, the students will send themto General Mills, which in return will send the school a check forthe promised amount.

Once the money has been received, it will be used to replace theolder wooden desks still used in many of the classrooms.

The students have been motivated during the year with a friendlycompetition between classes in K-4 grades.

“They get really excited about it,” said Stietenroth.

The winning class every quarter was rewarded with a pizza party.Julia Brown’s kindergarten class and Renee Redd’s first grade classhave received the honor, along with Shanna Lee’s first grade class,which collected the most for two quarters in a row.

“We used a reward system where they got a sticker and a suckerevery time they brought in a box top,” said Lee.

The school also gets bonus points in the program when parentsregister for the Box Tops for Education web site:www.boxtops4education.com

Stietenroth believes with the community’s assistance, the goalwill be reached by the end of the school year. Then the programwill start over with a new goal for next year.

“We’re definitely going to do this again, so parents need tosave their box tops over the summer, too,” she said.