SUMMER IS HERE!!

Vacation from school should not mean vacation from SCRIP!  You can be earning tuition credit all summer long as long as you continue to purchase SCRIP.  Let the high price of gas work for you.  If you purchase gas cards from any of the merchants listed on the order form or purchase gas using your Kroger/Scott's reloadable card, you can at least have the money you are spending on gas earn SCRIP credit for you. Use SCRIP to help pay for your vacation, for those fast food stops, dinner out, for many of your recreational activities, home improvements and more.

Summer hours are: 1) FRIDAY SALES - in the Hession Center 8:30-9:30 am; 2) WEEKEND SALES - Sat. after the 5 pm Mass & Sun. from 10-11 am in the back vestibule of church;  3) MONDAYS - The coordinators are in the SCRIP office placing orders to replenish our inventory from 8 am-noon.  SCRIP orders can be placed in the collection basket or phoned in before 9 am.  Those orders would be available at the Parish Office after noon.  The SCRIP office phone number is 969-4027.

**Remember, if you have a request for items that must be special ordered, including a large amount of our regular stock, please call the office as soon as you know but before 9 am on Monday.  Please allow at least one week for these items to arrive.

SUMMER PROMOTIONS

FREE TUITION!!!!

SCRIP is once again giving away a year of free tuition!! Place a minimum order of $100 to qualify.  Customers are limited to one order per family/per sale date. Sale dates are: 1) Friday sales; 2) Weekend sales (Sat. after 5 pm Mass & Sunday from 10-11 am) 3) Monday orders (orders phoned in or placed in the collection basket to be filled on Monday) 4) Kroger/Scotts card reload of at least $100.  Tuition is good for 1 year of St. Charles tuition for one child, for tuition at Bishop Dwenger, or toward any college of your choosing and is valued at $2,071.  If you no longer have need of tuition, you could donate the credit back to St. Charles's tuition assistance fund as a charitable donation.

FATHER'S DAY PROMOTION

Anyone who places a minumum order of $100 on June 14 or 15, will be entered into a drawing for a special "DAD's" give-away.  The lucky winner will have his/her choice of either 18 holes of golf at Autumn Ridge or Cherry Hill golf course, $50 to your favorite home improvement store, or $50 to your favorite gas center.

CURRENT PROJECT

SCRIP is currently dedicating its profits to the "New Kindergarten" project.  Msgr. John, Mr. Sordelet and the Financial Committee have determined that the time has come to build the necessary facilities to accomodate an all day kindergarten on our elementary school campus and move it from its existing site at Our Lady of Good Hope's campus.  This decision was made after much investigation  and knowing that this is a critical step in keeping St. Charles Elementary School a competitive choice for parents desiring the best education for their children's elementary years. SCRIP has been involved in helping the parish realize many of its projects in the past with just 15-20% of the parish supporting the SCRIP program.  We are counting on your continued support to help bring the kindergarten project to its completion in a timely fashion.  Just imagine what we could do if we had 100% of the parish's participation.  If you are not currently a SCRIP customer, please stop by our sales table to see how you can get started.

DID YOU KNOW?

Land's End gift certificates can be used at Sears.  With Land's End's discount at 15% and Sears at 4% this can make a big difference when purchasing large items.  Land's End gift certificates are available in $25, $50 and $100 denominations.  Wal-Mart joined our program in November and is good at Wal-Mart, Murphy Oil and Sam's Club. Great Lakes offers many more certificates than are listed on the St. Charles SCRIP order form.  Check out Great Lakes website at glscrip.com and click on "Retailers List"  to see what all is available.  This can come in handy when traveling or sending gifts to out of town family and friends. 

WHAT IS SCRIP?

For the past eleven years, St. Charles Parish has been involved in SCRIP, which means Substitute Currency Reaps In Profits. This program was organized by a priest in California to help parochial schools raise money for their parishes.

The SCRIP program allows the retail community to support parochial schools. The program is simple. St. Charles Parish purchases SCRIP certificates from participating stores at a discounted price and resells them to you at face value. It costs you nothing extra, but earns big profits for our parish. The SCRIP order form lists all participating stores with the percentage of discount they offer St. Charles. All major grocery stores and gas stations are participating, along with many restaurants and retail merchants.

We ended the year 2006 with $2,570,000 in sales, with profits of $163,000. The SCRIP Education vouchers for 2006 totaled approximately $81,169.43! Here at St. Charles, we have approximately 2500 families. The SCRIP program has great potential for growth, but needs your participation. If every family would purchase certificates for groceries and gasoline, St. Charles would have the potential to earn $600,000 profit per year.

The SCRIP program at St. Charles is unique in that 50% of the profit made from these purchases is given back to the individual in the form of a voucher. These vouchers are sent bi-annually and can be used towards current year or future tuition for St. Charles, Bishop Dwenger, college, fees for Religious Education and Vacation Bible School, and many other expenses families incur when sending their children to St. Charles. Families no longer in need of tuition credit have the option to apply their voucher towards Tuition Assistance and/or the Capital Improvement Fund.

SCRIP profits funded the "Build the Rectory" project, which began in 2003 and finished in 2005. $489,000 was raised for this project. Renovation of the Parish Office was also funded through SCRIP.  Past SCRIP profits were used to purchase the fence for the athletic field ($3,800), update the teacher's lounge with new furnishings ($874), and replace locks on the doors at the parish office ($967). Profits were used to cover the Voices hymnals ($605), music for the phone systems at the parish office ($967), and for the Elizabeth Ministry ($325). The list continues with updated computer equipment for the SCRIP office ($3,378) and SCRIP mailings ($1,043). A heating and air conditioning unit was purchased ($5,200) for the Youth Ministry Office and two defibrillators were bought ($1,860), one for Church and one for school.  These are just a few of the purchases the SCRIP program has made possible. There are many more needs in our parish. Purchasing SCRIP certificates before you shop will help us meet these needs.

There are four easy ways to purchase SCRIP certificates. First, your orders can be dropped in the collection basket on Sunday. These orders will be filled on the following weekday. They can be sent to you by mail or picked up at the Parish Office. Secondly, when school is in session, you can send your order in with a student and it will be filled Monday and/or Friday and sent home with that student. Thirdly, every Friday or the last day of the school week, we have CASH SALES. You can walk in with your order and walk out with the certificates. Cash Sales, during the school year, are scheduled from 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. at the Hession Parish Center (unless school is delayed or canceled). And finally, SCRIP can be purchase on Saturdays after the 5:00 p.m. Mass and on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. at the main entrance of the Church.

As you can see, SCRIP profits benefit the entire parish. These profits help keep the campus maintained and furnish our students with safe and updated equipment. They also provide for the unexpected expenses not included in the annual budget. It takes many volunteers to accomplish our success. Any parishioner interested in volunteering for SCRIP should contact the SCRIP office at 969-4027. 

CASH SALE HOURS

Fridays 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in the Hession Center; Saturday after the 5:00 pm. Mass at the front of church; Sunday 10:00 a.m.11:00 am. at the front of church;  Monday is our order day. Orders dropped in collection basket and orders sent in with students are filled and returned . 

Anyone in need of  "emergency" SCRIP outside of these sale days are asked to contact one of the SCRIP coordinators at home. ;   Peggy, 486-4190;  Mary, 485-8420. or  Madonna,    485-7501