Citrus: School likes the sweet sound of cash registers

School likes the sweet sound of cash registers

By BARBARA BEHRENDT

INVERNESS -- Attention, Kmart shoppers: When you spend, keep Inverness Middle School in mind.

Last week the school began distributing special cards to the parents of students at the school. When a shopper uses the card at any Kmart, the retailer donates one-quarter of 1 percent of the total purchase to the school.

Principal Cindy Staten said she first noticed the Kmart School Spirit Program in an educational magazine. The program seemed simple and could mean some extra money for the school.

Staten said she wasn't sure how much the program might generate. "I think that all depends on how many children took (the cards) home with them last week," she said.

Some of the challenge will be to train parents to remember to show the cashier their cards with each purchase. Staten herself was chagrined to admit that she had shopped over the weekend and had forgotten to show her card. She vowed that it wouldn't happen again.

There are no special projects in mind for the money, which will begin arriving at the school in the spring. But she noted that the school can always find worthy causes. The school has a good relationship with the store, Staten said. Managers have helped in a variety of ways, including allowing students to use their parking lot for fundraising car washes. For Inverness Middle School parents who did not receive the special cards or others interested in getting cards to assist the school, Staten has plenty of extras available. The cards have a special code that credits a specific school no matter the location of the Kmart.

All purchases are eligible, except for things not allowed in school in the first place: alcohol, tobacco and firearms.

At the Inverness Kmart, manager Janine Smith said she did not know of another school in the area that had approached the stores as Inverness Middle School did. She noted that the special promotion was available at no charge to any school. And some individuals, including Kmart employees, have signed up to have cards from other area schools.

For information, shoppers can contact their local Kmart.

- Staff writer Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or 564-3621.