General Mills, Food Lion and Box Tops for Education Award $50,000 to Davis Elementary School in Trenton, Georgia
ATLANTA, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ — With one swipe of her Food Lion MVP card and the purchase of several General Mills products, Georgia resident Beverly Hawkins was selected as a sweepstakes winner and made one school in Trenton, Georgia very happy. Box Tops for Education, a leading school fundraising program, will donate $50,000 to Davis Elementary School on behalf of General Mills and winner, Beverly Hawkins, this Holiday season.
With 310 students, Davis Principal Mike Lawson and PTO President Marie Irwin sent a letter to parents and teachers to decide how the school is going to spend the awarded funds — an amount that is double the school’s current budget of $22,100 for supplies that is provided by the state of Georgia.
“We’re extremely grateful to General Mills, Food Lion and Ms. Beverly Hawkins for caring about education and specifically, the students at Davis Elementary,” said Principal Lawson. “It is our goal to use this money to improve all areas of our school from the playground to academics and upgrading library books for students.”
Food Lion ran the General Mills’ Box Tops for Education sweepstakes in their stores this fall announcing to customers that their school could be the recipient of a generous $50,000 check, the second largest amount awarded through the Box Tops for Education program. Prior to winning such a large sum of money, Davis Elementary had earned a total of $2,281 since 1995.
“We’re always excited to offer our customers new incentives to shop at Food Lion stores,” said Store Manager Josh Blevins. “We’re glad that General Mills and the Box Tops for Education program provide our customers ways to give back to their local community.”
The Box Tops for Education program has helped schools earn more than $175 million over the past 10 years. Volunteer Box Tops Coordinators encourage families and individuals to participate in the program through buying groceries featuring the Box Tops coupons, shopping online and/or making purchases with a credit card; earning up to $20,000 from each program component for a maximum of $60,000 for any one individual school.
Sweepstakes winnings such as the $50,000 earned by Davis Elementary are not included in the limit, however.
“We believe that education is vital to giving our kids a healthy future,” said Joseph Paul, assistant manager General Mills Promotion Marketing. “It’s an incredible way for our brands to give back to schools and students across the United States.”
Davis Elementary was established in 1938. It’s located across from Look Out Mountain and Fox Mountain in Trenton, Georgia and is one of thousands of schools across the United States that benefit from the Box Tops for Education program.
About Box Tops for Education: The Box Tops for Education program began in 1996, as more and more schools struggled to make ends meet. Each year, all enrolled schools receive a complete program kit (written in English and Spanish) to help them build their own comprehensive fundraising campaign. Most schools designate a program coordinator to develop ways to encourage students, parents, school staff and community members to clip Box Tops from participating products and bring them to school.
After the collected Box Tops are sent in to General Mills, the school receives a check, equivalent to 10 cents for every Box Top redeemed. Schools can earn up to $60,000 per year, up to $20,000 respectively from the Clip, Shop and Charge program components, to spend on anything they choose. Thousands of schools have used the money from Box Tops for Education to purchase items such as computers and computer software, library books, art supplies, and playground equipment.
Box Tops for Education is open to any accredited public, private, or parochial schools for grades K-8 in the United States that have a 501(c)(3) or 509(a)(1) tax-exempt designation and to any United States military schools, for grades K-8, worldwide. The program is also available to accredited home school associations, K-8, in the United States that have a 501 (c)(3) or 509 (a)(1) tax-exempt designation and have 15 or more students.
About Food Lion: Food Lion LLC is a subsidiary of Brussels-based Delhaize Group . Food Lion LLC operates more than 1,200 supermarkets, either directly or through affiliated entities, under the names of Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar Food, Harveys and Reid’s. These stores meet local customer needs and preferences for the freshest and best quality products. Food Lion LLC employs approximately 73,000 associates in 11 Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
General Mills
CONTACT: Brittany Shaw of Leader Enterprises Inc., +1-678-507-1031,bshaw@leaderenterprises.com, for General Mills