OxfordPress.com

Chris Bauer of Oxford recently won a $1,000 prize for Kramer Elementary School.

As the mother of two Kramer students, Ellie and Max, Bauer has served as both the Parent Teacher Group treasurer and the "Box Top Coordinator" for two years.

Box Tops for Education are small coupons that appear on General Mills' products, and the school receives 10 cents for each one it collects.

Students at Kramer compete to collect these tops, winning prizes and a pizza party for the class that gathers the most.

Since 2006, Bauer has coordinated the campaign by tracking totals, making monthly bulletin boards, awarding prizes and encouraging students and parents to clip the small coupons that appear on products ranging from Kix cereal to Kleenex tissues.

With extensive help from a few dedicated volunteers, she has counted, trimmed, and submitted thousands of box tops.

These small pieces of cardboard can add up to a large amount of dough: This year's campaign raised more than $2,000.

Last month, Bauer received an unexpected bonus, winning an additional 10,000 Box Tops in a sweepstakes.

Her $1,000 prize will help fund the field trips, assemblies and educational materials provided by the Kramer PTG.

Bauer thanks all the families who contributed to this year's collection drive.

She reminds anyone in the community who wants to help that they can still deliver box tops to the Kramer office.