For school families, the Scrip fundraising program is one of the ways to achieve the $400 fundraising requirement.
Scrip allows families to buy gift cards for local merchants including Wal-Mart, Jewel, BP Oil, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Chili's to name a few. Every penny spent on the Scrip (gift) card is what is spent at the retailer. This program will not cost anything extra except a little time for planning.
The Great Lakes Scrip Center (GLSC) acts on behalf of Immaculate Conception School to purchase large amounts of Scrip from grocery stores, department stores, and other retailers. Because the Scrip is purchased with cash up front, the participating retailers offer a substantial discount. ICS buys the Scrip from GLSC at a discount, and re-sells the certificates to our members for full face value. The bulk of the discount – from two to fifteen percent or more – is retained by ICS as revenue. This revenue is applied toward each school family's fundraising requirement.
There are two ways to purchase Scrip cards. The first is through "The Scrip Store". The Scrip Store has retailer cards on hand for immediate purchase. Cards are sold on a first come, first serve basis. ICS will do its best to stock according to demand and make adjustments as necessary. The Scrip Store hours during the school year are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays inside the school office at the beginning of the school day.
The second way to purchase Scrip is through scheduled orders at www.shopwithscrip.com where Great Lakes Scrip Center's complete list of participating retailers is available. An online account is needed. Please contact Holly McNichols for the ICS enrollment code. The volunteers working The Scrip Store are also able to create an online account or place scheduled orders.
Online scheduled orders will be placed with GLSC on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. The preferred method of payment is "Presto-Pay" which is a direct withdrawal from a checking account to GLSC. Presto-Pay needs to be set up on the online account. It can take 3-5 business days to be activated. There is a $0.15 convenience fee per order. Payment may also be made by check or cash. Checks are payable to ICS. Please have any payment clearly marked for the scrip order. It is important to have the payment in the school office by 3:00 p.m. Tuesday. If payment is not received and the order includes a retailer which is rarely purchased, ICS will NOT place the order. Notification via email is sent when the order is ready for pickup.
Please contact Holly McNichols at 815-955-5126 or hamcnic@gmail.com with any questions. All relatives, friends and fellow parishioners should be encouraged to use the program. They may designate any school family as the recipient of the fundraising credit.