Bigfork Elementary School Benefits from Harvest Foods Receipts

It is better to give the receipt – not quite how the saying goes, but the idea is, if you turn in your receipts from Harvest Foods, Bigfork Elementary School earns points for supplies and equipment.

Volunteers Toot Sward and her son T.J. gather, audit and organize the receipts from the various collection sites on a weekly basis to be turned into points that earn supplies for the school. Toot explains, “If you remember the days of S&H Green Stamps – this program works similarly to that.”

Toot says she volunteered to take over the project to allow school secretary Carol Venegas more time for the many other responsibilities she has at the school. She also thought it would be a great project to share with her son T.J. who has a cognitive learning disability that make reading, writing and numbers difficult for him, most likely because of his premature birth weighing only two pounds. In spite of some of the challenges Toot says, “He is the happiest human being on the planet.” She says T.J. loves to help others by contributing to a variety of community events such as the Bigfork Elves Decoration Day and take down day and the Clean the Fork event. One of his most recent projects was collecting aluminum cans to raise $500 for the “Al Mosta Ranch” animal shelter.

Toots and T.J. work together to audit the receipts for ineligible purchases such as gift certificates, alcohol or lottery tickets, and when they reach $1000 in purchases, they stable the audit tape to the receipts, which are rolled up and secured with a rubber band. It is a task that T.J. looks forward to and that turned out to have another great benefit. Toot worked alongside her son for the past three years and watched as he gained skills in reading and counting. She says, “It was miraculous.”

A 2011 graduate from Bigfork High School, T.J. loves returning to his alma mater to pick up receipts left at the school. Receipts must be dated during the qualifying time frame, Sept. 1 through March 31. Last year they doubled the receipt amounts from $195,241.93 in the 2019 – 2020 school year to $387,912.87 in the 2020 – 2021 school year. The receipt amounts earn them points to spend in a catalog provided by Harvest Foods Corporate Office with a wide variety of supplies including media, art, gym and other classroom supplies.

Part of the fun for Toot and T.J. is what they playfully call, “dumpster diving” as they rescue discarded receipts from the trash bins at the store. Toot says with a laugh, “We all have hand sanitizer in our cars now, right?” They even have friends that have joined the receipt rescue effort. When armed with masks and hand sanitizers you might call them the “Grocery Receipt Bandits.”

T.J. can hardly wait to get home to smooth out the crumpled receipts to add to their tally each week – more treasures to add to the treasure chest.

Harvest Food receipts can be dropped off at any of the collection sites, which include the Bigfork Elementary School, Bigfork Chamber Office, Bigfork Liquor Barn and Denny’s Barber Shop. Toot says receipts can also be sent by mail – T.J. is considered the mailman and loves getting mail.

TJ Sward, 41 Whitetail Meadows Rd., Kalispell, MT 59901.