The Big Clip grand prize winner didn’t believe she’d won 500,000 Bonus Box Tops
01/01/2010
Angie Atwood ignored the first email from Box Tops for Education--she thought it was some kind of ploy. But the second email convinced her: She’d won 500,000 Bonus Box Tops for her 3rd grader’s school in The Big Clip sweepstakes. “I was so excited about it, I couldn’t believe it,” says Atwood, a mother of three in Bloomingburg, Ohio.
As it happens, she read that second email just before heading to a parent-teacher conference at the school that will benefit from her winnings, Miami Trace Elementary School. “I told the principal, ‘Oh, by the way, you’ll be hearing from the Box Tops people—we won $50,000,” Atwood says.
The principal, Julie Reisinger, did what any self-contained, rational administrator would do under the circumstances: She jumped up and down in glee, bubbling over about all the items they could fund with the money.
In a calmer moment, Prinicipal Reisinger detailed how the school is deciding what to do with their newfound riches. They’re surveying the staff, students and parents about what they prefer, then trying to effectively allocate it among instructional support and materials, technical aids, playground equipment and programs to encourage attendance and academic performance. “It’s not every day that we receive $50,000 so we want to spend it wisely,” Reisinger says.
Atwood says she’s been a Box Tops for Education supporter for years. She and her husband clip coupons regularly, most often from Hamburger Helper®. “I don’t have a lot of time and I don’t have a lot of money,” Atwood says, “so this is a good way to help.” She’s hoping other parents will get involved with Box Tops as well: “If we could get all of those parents to participate, we could get some money year after year for those kids.”
Two other schools were winners in The Big Clip sweepstakes, which concluded this past October: St. Louise de Marillac School in LaGrange Park, Ill., and Meadowside Elementary School in Milford, Conn. They each won 250,000 Bonus Box Tops ($25,000). Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to everyone who entered the sweepstakes.