Nearly $350,000 in Harvest Foods receipts were collected for the benefit of Bigfork Elementary this winter. The receipts are collected in coordination with Register Tapes for Education, a program that partners with grocery stores for the benefit of local schools. Schools will collect receipts from participating grocery stores, strike alcohol and tobacco products from the receipts, then tally them up for a total dollar amount to send to Register Tapes for Education. That dollar amount translates into points for the program, which Bigfork Elementary/Middle School Secretary Carol Venegas said they can redeem for school supplies purchased through the Register Tapes for Education’s catalog. She said she goes around to teachers at the school and asks them what they need for their classrooms. This allows the school to redeem points for needed supplies, ranging from art supplies to physical education supplies and everything in between. Toot Sward and her son TJ collect the receipts and bundle them for the school.

“It has been a labor of love both for the school and for TJ in helping with his reading of numbers and organizing the rolls of receipts. He can't wait to get home with a new 'bundle' of receipts to begin putting them in order according to their size,” Sward said.

The only eligible receipts run from September 1 to March 31. Sward said they would like to thank the following businesses who participated in collecting receipts: the Bigfork Chamber, Denny's Barbershop, the Liquor Barn, Tall Pine Casino and Bigfork NAPA Autoparts. They also wish to thank Marcus and the Staff at Harvest Foods for offering this program to the Bigfork Elementary School, and Ryan at the UPS Store in Bigfork who provided the postage to send the receipts to the Corporate Offices that will credit the school. Receipt collection for the program will resume on September 1 of this year.