St. John's Scrip Program
How It Works
Scrip is a term that means “substitute money.” When you purchase scrip, you’re purchasing negotiable gift certificates and prepaid cards that are used just like cash. You can use scrip to purchase everyday expenses like food, clothing, and other essentials. Here is what scrip looks like:
We purchase retail scrip through The Great Lakes Scrip Center (GLSC). GLSC acts on behalf of churches, schools and other non profit organizations to purchase large amounts of scrip from restaurants, department stores, and other retailers. Because the scrip is purchased with cash up front, the participating retailers offer a substantial discount. St. John’s buys the scrip from Great Lakes Scrip Center at a discount, and re-sells the certificates to families like yours for full face value. The discount, from two to fifteen percent or more, amounts to funds raised for the Martin P. Harris Scholarship Fund.
Appealing aspects of the Scrip program are that families do not spend “new money” and each family benefits directly in proportion to its level of participation in the program.
Scrip is popular because families don’t have to sell anything. St. John’s families produce revenue for by making regular household purchases they would make anyway. Groceries, clothing, toys, gifts, even gasoline can be purchased with scrip.
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