"It made me happy inside."

BCACS parents Graham Smith and Amy Young wanted their children, first-grader Ward and preschooler Rafferty, to understand the spirit of giving.

“We are very fortunate,” Ms. Young said. “It is important that we show our kids that many others are not and since we are able, we can help.”

Last year, the family sold items they weren’t using and donated the profits to Haven’s Gap which helps homeless children gain access to tutoring and recreation. This year, Ms. Young wanted to use the same method, but with a different beneficiary – St. Joseph Elementary School.

“There is no other place we would want our children to go to school in Battle Creek,” Ms. Young said. “It is a wonderful place with amazing, loving, and hardworking teachers and staff. Our project is just a tiny thank you from us.”

Ward and Rafferty picked which of their toys to sell.

“The kids were very excited to donate to their school,” Ms. Young said. “I think it gave them a stronger connection to where their money was going and got them very motivated to go through their things.”

Ward and Rafferty presented the money to their classes, each having raised $162.87.

Their teachers were genuinely surprised.

“To be so little and to want to donate so much was very generous,” preschool teacher Kelly. Francisco said. “[Rafferty] was so loving and showed the true meaning of what Christmas is all about. She let her light shine.”

[l. to r.] St. Joseph Principal Sara Myers, preschool teacher Kelly Francisco, and Rafferty Smith.

[l. to r.] First-grade teacher Devin Dubois and Ward Smith

First-grade teacher Devin Dubois was familiar with the family’s charity work, having had Ward in her kindergarten class last year.

“When they chose to give the funds from their toy donation to our class this year, I felt humbled,” Ms. Dubois said. “I think it is great that Ward's family has instilled the importance of giving back and it's so amazing to see this type of charity at such a young age.”

Their classmates were impressed.

“They were all very surprised that [Rafferty] was willing to sacrifice her toys,” Ms. Francisco said. “I think they were very proud of her and inspired by her as well.”

“The class was excited that Ward had decided to give the amount of money to our class to use for something,” Ms. Dubois said. “They were also thankful.”

Ms. Francisco hasn’t decided what to do with Rafferty’s gift yet. She is discussing options with her students, wanting it to be “fun and academic”.

Ms. Dubois class decided to buy new math manipulatives and library books.

“I can't wait to incorporate all our new items into the classroom,” Ms. Dubois said. “This truly couldn't have been done without Ward's family's support for our school and classroom.”

And how did these grade-school benefactors feel about their gifts?

“I was little embarrassed from all the attention but really happy we did it,” Ward said.

“It made me happy inside,” Rafferty said.

And it made all of us at BCACS happy, too!

SCRIP goes digital

Tuition. Who doesn’t want to reduce it?

SCRIP or School Cost Reduction Incentive Program has been helping families do just that without the fuss of fundraising. Families purchase gift cards from the school for places they frequent as customers. While they enjoyed face value of their money, SCRIP takes a percentage of each card. Half goes against the family’s tuition bill and half remains with the school. It is a win-win.

Now families can order SCRIP without the trip to the St. Joseph Parish Center. In fact, they can order SCRIP in their pajamas, in their car, even in line at Target.

It starts with going to www.ShopWithScrip.com. SCRIP Coordinator Joy Finnila recommends creating an account on a computer as opposed to a smartphone. Don’t worry; the cool smartphone-part is coming!

Click “Get Started” and then “Join a SCRIP Program”. Our BCACS Enrollment Code is: 4884793F457.

Once you have an account, you can easily sort through all 813 local and national vendors. When you select a vendor, you get a choice. There is the “Physical Gift Card” that goes in your wallet or a “ScripNow eCard”, which you can access through a phone or computer.

Certain vendors allow you to reload an existing card, provided it was purchased through SCRIP and registered to your account.

When you register a card, you can give it a name. Helen Guzzo, longtime BCACS parent and frequent SCRIP user, designated a Meijer card for each member of her family. It’s a great way to give gas money to teenage drivers.

Reloads take 24 hours to become available after purchase. Some vendors have a “ReloadNow” option, which gives instant access after purchase.

When you finish selecting your cards, you have two options to pay. The “check” option sends the order to Ms. Finnila. Much like traditional SCRIP, you show up at the SCRIP office, drop off your check and pick up your cards.

The “PrestoPay” option sends payment from your checking account, enabling “ReloadNow” to be truly NOW. “PrestoPay” takes a couple of days to set up and requires your bank account and routing number. There is a 15-cent fee per transaction, but you can buy as many cards as you like per transaction.

You can also create a SCRIP wallet for your smartphone. Type www.myscripwallet.com in your phone’s browser, log in, and click “add to home screen”. An icon will appear, which opens your digital SCRIP wallet.

Making SCRIP more accessible makes tuition more affordable. It doesn’t just help one family, but the whole BCACS family.

“The power of SCRIP is in the marginal use,” Mrs. Guzzo said. “The more people who use it, the bigger the impact for our schools.”

That power isn’t limited to school families.

Mrs. Guzzo is a big advocate of “Tuition Angels” – people outside the school who buy SCRIP and designate the rebate for a school family. Mrs. Guzzo is grateful for her family’s “Tuition Angels”.

“My Angels were supporters of the schools and supporters of my children,” Mrs. Guzzo said.

Now that her youngest daughter is set to graduate, Mrs. Guzzo has become an “Angel” for the BCACS band program.

“It’s truly the app that keeps me being a regular user,” Mrs. Guzzo said. “I’m doing social good just by spending my regular money.”

Want to learn more? Contact Joy Finnila at 269-963-3034 or jfinnila@bcacs.org.

It’s a difficult track, but one Coach Minier won’t run alone

St. Philip track coach Jeff Minier built his championship program around a simple philosophy.

“Track is a team sport, not an individual sport.”

Recent health issues have shown Coach Minier he’s a member of the BCACS family, not just a BCACS coach.

Coach Minier began suffering tremors last March. A barrage of doctors ran a barrage of tests, but they had no answers. Meanwhile, the 2017 track season was underway. Since this team included his own children (Tim, Class of 2017, and Gabby, Class of 2020), Coach Minier decided to let everyone know.

“I told them, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but by God, we are here to run track, and we’re not here to worry about this stuff,’” Coach Minier said.

The St. Philip Track Team after winning their fourth west division championship in 2017.

The assistant coaches and team captains took on more responsibility and St. Philip earned their fourth division, third league, and first regional championships. The tremors, however, continued. The Minier family couldn’t help but worry. 

Coach Minier decided to go to the Mayo Clinic over Thanksgiving Break. As his appointment approached, his BCACS family mobilized.

The high school said a Rosary at the Grotto, each class leading a decade for Coach Minier’s health.

“Jeff has done so much for our kids,” St. Philip Principal Vicky Groat said. “He’s always pushing them to be better, not just as athletes but as young men and women.”

St. Philip High School students saying the Rosary at the Grotto for the Minier Family.

“I found it very humbling that anyone would think that highly of me to want to do something,” Coach Minier said. “I will take all the help I can get.”

A group of moms from the Class of 2017 contacted Penna Michele, longtime BCACS teacher, to make a prayer quilt from track t-shirts.

“Penna is amazing,” Jeanine Winkler, one of the moms, said. “She put aside another project she was doing in order to do that.”

The elementary and middle school had an out-of-dress-code fundraiser to give the Miniers some spending money while at the Mayo Clinic. The money arrived with the quilt.

“That really threw [my wife and me] backward,” Coach Minier said. “We were dumbfounded that they would do anything. I don’t really have anything to do with the elementary and middle school.”

Mrs. Doyle’s first-grade class sent an additional gift while the Miniers were at Mayo.

“We made him a Rosary book letting him know that we're thinking of him and offering him and his family up in prayer,” Mrs. Doyle said. “I had [the Minier] children here at school, and I think the world of him and Christy.”

The Rosary book was waiting when the Miniers returned.

“I don’t know who [the first-graders] are, and they probably don’t know who I am, but they took time out of their day to do something,” Coach Minier said. “That brought me back to the fact that I’m not just a coach at the high school and my kids aren’t just at a high school.”

“Once you come through our doors, even if you are only there for a year, you are part of the family,” Mrs. Groat said. “We wrap our arms around each other.”

The power of prayer has produced good news. The doctors have diagnosed Coach Minier with a functional movement disorder, a condition that responds well to physical therapy.

It’s a difficult track, but one he won’t run alone.

Mr. Minier (center) with the "dream team" from the Class of 2017. These young men had been running the relay together since their St. Joseph Middle School days when Coach Minier put the team together.