To Benefit St. Jerome School
A brief tutorial on a fund raiser that St. Jerome School has had for the past 10 years – the sale of Supermarket Gift Cards to Shop Rite, Foodtown, Stop & Shop and Wegmans. First of all, these cards can be given as gifts, but their main intent is for everyday shopping. They are sold in denominations of $25, $50 and $100. There is no need to spend the entire amount in one shopping trip. The balance on the card will be clearly spelled out on the cash register receipt. The card costs you nothing extra. A $100 card costs $100. The profit to the school is derived from the 5% discount given by the store.
Let’s look at the profit potential. Very few families spend less than $500 a month at the grocery store. If 200 St. Jerome School and Church families, who shop at one of the stores above, purchased $500 worth of gift cards each month, the annual profit would be $60,000. This is within striking distance of the profit from the fashion show. The main difference is that no work is required on the part of anyone other than the program coordinator. And the $60,000 could be put to very good use in keeping tuition reasonable and in helping those who need tuition assistance. As Catholics, we are called upon to help – and in this case very little sacrifice is required.
At St. Jerome School, we have a 1st and 15th of the month club. If you join, you will be notified every month (or twice a month if you join both clubs) when your cards are available in the school office. Either the parent or the student can pick them up, but they must be paid for when they are picked up.
Gift cards are also sold after the 7:30am and 11am masses at St. Jerome Church. For those who don’t attend those masses but are interested in joining, a call to the school office at (732) 222-8686 will get you started. The program coordinator will call you and will make an arrangement for pickup or delivery of the cards.
To date, the program has earned $111,000 over the 10 years. Obviously, by analyzing the numbers above, it is easy to see that the profit potential is far greater. With very little effort on the participant’s part, significant assistance can be provided to St. Jerome School with no extra out of pocket cost.
St. Jerome School appreciates your prayerful consideration of this program.