Lynn students rewarded for clipping coupons

LYNN – Pasta and cake decorating were on the menu for three classes at the Lynn Woods school Friday after they turned in a small avalanche of box tops.”The kids have been really motivated this year,” said Principal Ellen Fritz. “We had one student bring in 800, that’s as many as some classes.”Box Tops for Education has been helping schools raise money since 1996. Participants are required to clip the small pink coupon, which is worth 10 cents and found on more than 100 different products.Fritz said parents Andrea Fila and Jennifer Mancaniello took over as box top coordinators this year and have set up a couple of contests as incentives for kids to take part. The effort has paid off.Mancaniello said students have collected over 18,000 box tops since September, which equals $1,800, and about 5,000 during the latest contest. Students had six weeks during the Winter Wonderful Contest to bring in as many box tops as they could in order to secure a party for their class.This money raised is used by the PTO to purchase or help defray costs for educational opportunities and/or just plain fun stuff, that otherwise wouldn’t be possible, Mancaniello said. “Collecting box tops has been a great undertaking by the entire school community and extended members, parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors,” she said. “We have continued to be so successful due to so many individuals generously helping out and getting excited for these contests.”The students have had some fun as well competing for bragging rights as well as pasta and cake, she added.The lunch was provided by Libearto “Libby” Mancaniello, owner of Maria’s Gourmet Pasta Products in Malden, who happens to be Jennifer Mancaniello’s husband.Those who got to attend included students in Lauren Powers’ first grade class who collected 2,218 box tops, students in Marie Zukas’ second grade class who collected 1,430 and Patty Cavanaugh’s kindergartners who brought in 831 box tops.Individual students who shined, all first-graders, are Luke Phelan, who collected 752 box tops, Kiridah Wendt-Som with 685 and Stephen Hoffman, who brought in 332 box tops. Each has won a $25 gift certificate for their effort.The PTO has made a dent in the money raised by buying a variety of board games, kick balls of various sizes, hula hoops, tennis balls, sidewalk chalk, Nerf footballs, jump ropes, double Dutch ropes, ball pumps and plastic storage containers.