Grocery shopping benefits schools

Who knew just shopping for groceries could help schools in financing supplies, field trips and in so many other areas? The La Cañada PTA did. They pushed and promoted Vons Market escrip to their parents and the community and on Friday were rewarded with a check for $27,539.09.

The money represents the donations from Vons for 2008. The process is easy; shoppers at the market can sign their Vons Club Card up with a school of their choice. Each time they swipe their card for savings at the checkstand, a portion of that total goes to the school, or organization, of their choice. According to Vons escrip information, up to 4% of a shopper’s purchases can be earmarked for their school.

The pot was sweetened over the summer when the market offered a special deal through a Back to School program.

“If you bought certain products during this time if you bought certain products Vons would donate an extra 10%,” said Lori Moody, this year’s chair of the program. “If you didn’t have a club card we could still redeem it by using a redemption code on the receipt.”

Moody had set up canisters at the stores in La Cañada and La Crescenta as well as La Cañada Elementary School where shoppers could drop off their receipts. Then, it was Moody who typed in all of those redemption codes into the computer to get credit for the district’s schools.

That program took place from August to October. Within that time period, the schools had registered $5,100 in donation.

PTA Council President Sharon Otsuka praised Moody for all of her hard work, not only for the hours it took to pick the receipts and type them in, but also for getting the word out to parents on the value of this program.

“We want to thank Lori for all the diligence and we appreciate her work,” Otsuka said.

La Cañada Vons’ general manager of merchandise, Tara Hernandez, presented the check to the PTA on Friday morning.

“We want to thank you in giving us this opportunity for school funding,” Otsuka said. “Thank you so much.”

For information on escrip visit the market’s website at www.escrip.com and follow the instructions. Or ask a Vons store employee.