March 3, 2008
By Laura Tew
Great Lakes Scrip Center
Maria Shroyer (left) and Christine Simon (right) of Holy Cross School pose on thier school grounds in Dover DE. The Holy Cross scrip program is healthy and productive thanks to these hard-working scrip volunteers.
At only three years old, the SCRIP program at Holy Cross School in Dover, Delaware is growing by leaps and bounds. Christine Simon and Maria Shroyer took over the fledgling program two years ago and have developed seven ways to better their program:
1. “Assist A Family” Program
Like most private religious schools, Holy Cross let’s families offset tuition expenses with a scrip credit. Twenty five percent of the total contribution earned by the family goes for tuition reduction, and 75% goes toward the Holy Cross PTO. What sets Holy Cross apart from other schools is that they have an”Assisted Family Program”. Other families or even members of the Catholic Parish that don’t have students attending the school can designate their SCRIP proceeds to go to the fund or directly to a specific family in need. “We have some families that designate their credit to go to other families,” Christine said. “Some families don’t have children at the school anymore, but want to help others.” Going hand-in-hand with this is the teacher incentive. Teachers can buy SCRIP and have the profits buy things for their classroom, or simply reimburse them for money already spent.
2.Work With Local Businesses To Increase Sales
Holy Cross works with local businesses that give special discounts for preplanned events. For instance their local Uno Chicago Grill helps them plan a dining event on a weeknight, and gives Holy Cross a donation for 20% of the total sales for their group on that night. With an additional 12% contribution from Uno’s scrip participation, Holy Cross nets 32% on a Uno Chicago Grill event. They have also worked out a similar arrangement with Cold Stone Creamery for a 10% contribution on specially designated days.
3. Highlight Specific Retailers With High Contributions
“It’s all about communication, getting information out,” Christina said. She and Maria make it a priority to put together their own SCRIP newsletter. They combine information from the Great Lakes Scrip website with information specific to their SCRIP program. When vendors are offering temporary benefit increases, they are quick to pass that information along. Stores and restaurants that may offer higher contributions than others are highlighted so that families can make informed decisions when ordering their SCRIP.
4. Increase Sales with Weekly “Cash and Carry”
Orders are sent out every other week to minimize shipping costs, but Holy Cross makes the most of that order. They supplement their sales from orders with cash and carry sales. Christine and Maria keep an inventory of popular cards on hand and sell about $5000 in cards every Wednesday, doubling that number in the weeks preceding Christmas. This capitalizes on all the spontaneous shopping trips, forgotten orders, or situations that arise since the previous order.
5. Teacher Wish List
“There are only so many coffee mugs and apples a teacher needs,” Christine says of the Christmas gifts most teachers receive from their students. At Holy Cross, the teachers check off their favorite places to shop or dine on an order form, when a student wants to purchase a gift for that teacher, the “wish list” is used to get a gift or card that the teacher will really enjoy.
6. Set Goal For School Profits
The PTO at Holy Cross votes on where the remaining 75% of the SCRIP profit goes so that the families have a goal. Currently they are working toward new lab equipment for the science lab, something that is not in the school’s limited budget.
“7. Super SCRIP Sell-Off”
During the first two weeks of November, Holy Cross SCRIP program offers double tuition-reimbursement to the top three SCRIP-selling families during that period. This past year’s winning family sold $10,000 in SCRIP. Second and third each sold $5000. Holy Cross SCRIP bought a total of $80,000 in SCRIP for that two-week period. To win, the winning families encouraged friends, family, and co-workers to order in their name. All were more than willing to help out. “It’s better than selling wrapping paper,” Christine said. “This is money that they would be spending anyway.” This period, added to the rest of the Christmas season, accounts for almost a third of Holy Cross’ total profit for the year.
What Does The Future Hold?
With a profit of $16,000 this past year, Christine Simon and Holy Cross hope to increase profits to $20-22,000 this year. They are always trying to get additional families involved, and plan to extend sales into the summer. Sometime in the near future they hope to extend the program into the Parish.
Each SCRIP program develops unique sales tactics specific to meeting their needs. Holy Cross has developed a few that may be helpful to others. With their program they offer tuition and classroom reimbursement, and are working toward brand-new science lab equipment. Their program is also a means by which others can help families in need and reward teachers with gifts they will both use and enjoy.
Christine Simon and Maria Shroyer have managed to continually grow their program while granting every opportunity to their participating families to provide a quality education for their children and others.