Colonie Center School Bucks program issues thousands to local schools

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Today, Colonie Center awarded close to $20,000 through their annual school bucks campaign. The funds help PTO organizers to create activities and buy school supplies for students. Through the program, schools encourage center shoppers to trade in their receipts to help earn points, with every dollar equaling four points. “We’ll collect the [...]

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Today, Colonie Center awarded close to $20,000 through their annual school bucks campaign. The funds help PTO organizers to create activities and buy school supplies for students. Through the program, schools encourage center shoppers to trade in their receipts to help earn points, with every dollar equaling four points.

“We’ll collect the receipts for you when you hand them in, or you can bring them in yourself,” Elaheh Farahmarzi, Marketing and Business Development for Colonie Center, said. “You can bring them right into the management office. We have a sheet for you to fill out. We try to make it as easy as possible.”

With the funds, schools have been able to make improvements to playgrounds, take field trips, host parties, or even buy supplies.

Colleen Lemmon, a PTA member for Hackett Middle School in Albany, said she was grateful the school was granted $1,000 through the program.

“We have teen night programs. It also just helps with any kind of program throughout the year,” Lemmon said.

The top two schools were granted much higher amounts. St. Pius X was granted $4,000 and Blessed Sacrament was given $8,000 to go towards school activities and supplies.

“We’re just so thankful,” Jennifer Stump, President of the PSA at St. Pius X, said. “This has inspired our school community to think big, and we’re going to use this money to contribute to outdoor learning.
“This is a tremendous help to our school,” Alexandra Morazan, Principal of Blessed Sacrament, said. “This is something that helps us fund our arts program. Without this, we would really be struggling. Most of our kids get tuition assistance. So this is a huge assistance for us.”

Any PTO that would like to be involved next year can just register their school on Colonie Center’s website.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Colleen Lemmon said. “We love this program because it really works with the community, and it helps the schools.”

All participating schools need to make sure receipts are handed in within the last 60 days. But will have until the end of the year to continue to collect points.