With 4 children, 2 of which are in school, I’m all for supporting our Educational System so that the schools can earn a little extra for things that they would not normally be able to buy.
Many of us are familiar with the Box Tops for Education Program – designed to earn money to contribute to your child’s school by bringing in the box tops of products you have purchased to feed your family.
But the BIG question is… are those products things we should be encouraging our children to eat?
Processed Kids Cereal is loaded with sugar, and after mentioning reasons why we need to stay farther away from added sugar, research has shown that junk food can not only be addictive, it can prevent kids from trying NEW foods, too.
Sometimes your child’s health can take a backseat to convenience – whole foods are always best, and many of those items that participating in the box tops program are full of pesticides, food dyes and Genetically Modified Ingredients. In other words, NOT real foods. Foods made to look like real foods but FAR from!
General Mills started Box Tops for Ed in 1996. They have contributed 525 million dollars to education. That’s 29 million a year for 18 years.
But, in 2012, they ALSO contributed $1, 135, 300.00 to defeat Prop 37 in California (an initiative that proposed labeling genetically modified food).
Considering that was ONE state, and that they likely spent in several other states, that’s a lot of money spent to defeat something that is really truly important for us long term. Would it cost more to label? It may. But .. considering that manufacturers add and detract from packages ALL the time anyways, are they truly worried about cost? Or are they REALLY worried about their profitability?
There is no doubt that profitability for them is important.
Things to Avoid:
- Ocean Spray
- Green Giant
- Totino’s
- Mott’s
- Land O Lakes
- Yoplait
- Bisquick
- Betty Crocker
- And more – all of which are prepackaged
Looking at the items that are part of the Box Tops Program, there are a handful that are better options than others. But they are few and far between… and in most cases, not the items that may be at eye level in the grocery store. Or, in some cases, not the items that may be on special with the “FREE” Milk when you buy 3 Cereal Promotions (don’t you ever wonder why that is?)
Even frozen items like Totino’s and Pillsbury Toaster Strudels are full of synthetic colors, preservatives, artificial ingredients and in genetically modified ingredients. Not what any child should be eating – convenience or not.
Understandably … schools do need ways to earn that extra money – so why not try to encourage your school and parents to earn money through Schoola’s Clothing Program?
Schoola is an online thrift shop that re-sells good quality used clothing. If you can manage to sift through your child’s outgrown clothing and set the good quality items aside, you can request a FREE (Postage Paid) bag to send the clothes TO them.
They put them up for sale on their site at Schoola.com.
As your items sell across the United States, 40% of the proceeds go to your child’s designated school. I think that’s a MUCH better opportunity to earn money back for your school, while keeping your children healthy, while also purging your house of things that you would normally be getting rid of anyways.
Why not do this? It’s POSTAGE PAID – so not only is requesting a bag FREE, it’s also free to send too.
Tips on Donating
- Send Schoola only the high quality items
- Make sure they are freshly laundered
- Before adding to the bag, make sure they are folded neatly (we usually pack them in to the bag to see how many will fit, then we dump out and fold what we think will fit, and then put the remainder into another bag)
- Just drop off at the post office in the postage-paid envelope
- Ensure your account is current and has your partner school identified
- Make sure you review the bag label before sending!
AND, right now on Schoola you can register as a new customer & earn up to $20 in FREE Credit, too – combined with FREE shipping, you can potentially find some items for your kids to replace the outgrown items you sent in to them.