About the WPC (5)
Due to the impact of COVID-19, there has been a tremendous decline of participation from the Westminster parent community. In order to revamp the spirit and pride at the WPC events, we are asking parents to volunteer their time in at least 2 events or activities. This can include volunteering for events through Sign-up Genius, Classroom volunteering, and WPC Meeting attendance. This is a great way to connect with your child at their Westminster Community. This is a great way to share the pride of our school with your children. Volunteer here.
The class activity fee is used only for your child’s grade, and for class parties like Halloween and Valentine’s Day, as well as gifts for the teachers following the class play. The WPC fee is used for annual events for the entire school.
The WPC does not direct the activities of class activities, who operate under the auspices of the school itself. See What We Do for more information.
As a member of the WPC there are many ways you can help!
1) Volunteer: Contact any member of the WPC board or sign up at one of the WPC General Meetings to volunteer as a coordinator or chairperson for one or more of our many fundraising programs and events. Sign-up Genius coming soon: Volunteer
2) Participate: Participate in one or more of the many programs and events that provide charitable giving opportunities to the school. These include collection based programs such as Dimes For Drama, Coca-Cola Give, Box Tops for Education, and the Evolve printer toner/ink recycling program, shopping rebate programs such as AmazonSmile and ShopWithScrip, rewards and points programs such as Microsoft Rewards and Harris Teeter’s Together In Education Program, as well as WPC sponsored family fun events that take place throughout the school year such as Trivia Night and Bingo.
All funds raised by or donated to the Westminster Parents’ Club ultimately belong to Westminster School, but the WPC Executive Committee determines, in its discretion, how the funds will be used. While we typically use some WPC funds for our operating costs and to defray the costs of sponsoring annual events, the majority of the WPC’s spending each year is to support the school and its teachers.
Some of the ways WPC funds were used in recent years are as follows:
- Coffee for teachers in the teachers’ lounge
- Breakfast for teachers on parent-teacher conference days
- Holiday gifts to teachers for their classrooms
- Improvements to the Gryphon Theater, including purchase of a new curtain and repairs to existing curtains, purchase of new wireless microphones for plays, and purchase and installation of lights
- Sound system for the gymnasium, which the school uses for concerts and other events
- Directed donations to the school, including the $12,000 matching grant in 2019 to support the purchase of new laptops for teachers.
- Unrestricted donations to the school in support of the Annual Fund.
AmazonSMILE (3)
AmazonSmile is a way for Amazon customers to support their favorite charitable organization every time they shop with Amazon.
When you start at smile.amazon.com you will find the same Amazon you know and love, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the price of eligible purchases to Westminster School
Visit smile.amazon.com to set up Westminster School Inc, Annandale, VA as your charity and start donating today!
1. Visit smile.amazon.com
2. Sign in with your Amazon.com credentials
3. Choose a charitable organization to receive donations, or search for the charity of your choice
4. Select your charity
5. Start shopping!
6. Add a bookmark for smile.amazon.com to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile
To turn AmazonSmile in the amazon shopping App.:
1. Make sure you’re signed up for AmazonSmile (use your web browser to visit smile.amazon.com)
2. Download or update to the latest version of the Amazon Shopping app for iOS or Android
3. Open the app and find “Settings” in the main menu (☰)
4. Tap on “AmazonSmile” and follow the on-screen instructions to turn on AmazonSmile in the app
Box Tops for Education (3)
Box Tops For Education is a program by General Mills that donates money to schools for items you purchase. Each “Box Top” is worth 10 cents and there are monthly Sweepstakes and Bonus Offers that provide an opportunity to earn many more Box Tops for the school. Only K-8 schools are eligible for this program so please encourage participation among family, friends, and alumni. Consider continuing your support to Westminster School through this program even after graduation!
Each eligible school may earn up to $20,000 per year from digital earning and other purchase activity. (For these purposes, the year begins on March 2nd of each year and ends on March 1st of the following year.) There is no maximum annual limit for earnings from sweepstakes. Box Tops Earnings are sent directly to Westminster School and are used to purchase educational supplies. Visit www.boxtops4education.com today for more information
Once you download the Box Tops app, you’ll be able to scan your store receipts and earn cash for your school. The app automatically finds participating products on your receipts and instantly adds cash to your school’s earnings online. Plus, you can invite friends to earn, get reminders to scan, give credit for your earnings and more!
Download on the App Store here
Get it on Google Play here
Anyone can participate! Just open a Box Tops account in the app and designate Westminster School as your charity. Involve friends and family to maximize donations.
Whenever you buy items with the Box Tops logo, make sure to scan your receipt. If your item still has a Clips logo, clip it and send it in to the WPC Box Tops Coordinator before the expiration date so that it can be submitted and credited to Westminster School. If you have friends and family that cannot use the app, collect their receipts and scan them in yourself. If you have collected receipts and need help scanning, reach out to the WPC and volunteers will help scan in the receipts. The best way to help is to participate often and encourage others to participate. Don’t forget to refer to the app to get credit for your eligible online purchases as well!
Coca-Cola Give (3)
With Coke.com/give, every purchase of your favorite Coca-Cola beverages is an opportunity to make a difference to schools and causes in your community. To donate, simply visit Coke.com/give, select the school or cause of your choice and scan or enter product codes from participating Coca-Cola products.
Click here to learn more about this program.
Each product code scanned or entered on Coke.com/give has a unique donation value, found here. Donations are distributed to schools on a quarterly* basis by EFT or check.
Any Coca-Cola beverage that has a product code under its cap or printed on its paper packaging is eligible to be used for donation.
All Coca-Cola Give donations go directly to school administration for use at their discretion. Any donation that a school receives from the program can be used to purchase supplies for extra-curricular activities including sports, technology, art and/or school supplies within your school. Join us in giving back to your community.
To donate, visit coke.com/give/schools, select WESTMINSTER SCHOOL, 22003 and scan or enter product codes from participating Coca-Cola products.
No time to enter them? No problem! Just drop off your Coke caps and codes at Westminster School and volunteers from the WPC will enter them for you
Dimes for Drama (2)
The Dimes for Drama program provides an opportunity for the students at Westminster to practice the tradition of charity by collecting change to support needed improvements to the Gryphon Theater and the beloved Westminster Drama program. Participation is encouraged and recognized
at the individual, class, and homeroom levels following each collection period and at the end of the school year.
Dimes for Drama collections take place three times each year (October, January and April). At the end of each collection period, Parents are encouraged to volunteer for the coin counting. Fliers and collection bags are sent home with the students providing detailed information of the program at the beginning of each collection period.
Since its initiation in 2002, Dimes for Drama funds have provided for improvements to the Gryphon Theater including the theater seats, theater lighting, microphones, sound system, stage improvements, and more!
- Provide incentives at home for your children to earn money for their donation and remind them to bring in their collections by the due date.
- Volunteer to count coins at the end of each collection period
Printer Cartridge Recycling Program (3)
Evolve Recycling pays organizations cash for empty inkjet and laser printer cartridges – keeping millions of pounds of waste out of landfills each year. Ship and Earn!
Click here to learn more about this program
Recycle – Collect and send empty inkjet and laser printer cartridges (Click here for list of acceptable items). Print or order shipping labels then reuse boxes from your home or office to ship product.
Ship and Earn! – Once we have 20 items or 20lbs (4-5 toner cartridges) log on and print a pre-paid shipping label. Then WPC will automatically receive a check when you’ve banked over $25
Drop off your used printer ink cartridges (ink jet and laser) in the collection box in the Stone House. The WPC will ship the items and collect the money for the school!
Rewards and Points Programs (1)
An easy way to support the causes you care about, simply by searching with Bing. Click here to Join Microsoft Rewards and select WESTMINSTER SCHOOL INC as your non-profit cause. Your Bing searches will earn Rewards points and will automatically be donated directly to your cause.
ShopWithScrip (4)
Definitely! Hundreds of restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, clothing stores, and other retailers participate in Scrip. Here are just a few examples of some brands you might recognize from your back-to-school shopping. See retailers list for more information.
All you need to set up a new account is an email address and your organization’s unique enrollment code, which your coordinator can give to you.
1. Click here to view the registration form and fill out the required fields.
2. When prompted enter the Enrollment Code for Westminster School: 55E84L7726738.
3.Once enrolled, set up your payment methods and set up the app on your smartphone.
Click here to download the iOS app
Click here to download the Google Play app
That’s it! Whether you’re shopping from home or on the run, check for gift cards before you check out. Most eGift cards will download and be ready to use within minutes.
Note: An email address is required to participate.
If you are experiencing trouble signing up, please contact the WPC Treasurer for assistance in getting started.
You buy physical gift cards, eGift cards, and reloadable gift cards from your favorite brands to use for your daily purchases. It’s the easiest way to create opportunities for your organization and the people that matter most to you. No extra money spent. No extra time wasted. There are more than 750 retailers participating in the Scrip program.
The retailer pays the WPC a rebate of between 2% to 16% of the value of the gift card you purchased. It’s free money!
You use the gift card for your everyday shopping, or give them to friends and loved ones, just like any other gift card.
To help the school! This program has so much potential: there is no limit to the amount the WPC can earn in rebates, and the rebate percentages are much more significant than other rewards programs. Without buying a single thing you do not need, you can raise real money for the school.
The WPC shares the rebates earned through Scrip purchases with the purchasing family, on a 70/30 basis – meaning you’ll get back 30% of every rebate you earn. The other 70% qualifies as a tax-deductible donation to the school.
Last year, just 12 families participated. Collectively, they earned a more than $1,200.00 in rebates. The WPC itself also earned over $400 in rebates by using Scrip for pizza and other purchases.
Three of our participating families earned enough in rebates that their 30% share exceeds their WPC Fee – it’s like they earned a refund of the fee, just for buying things they already planned to buy.
Uniform Store (5)
The WPC Used Uniform Store is located in the basement of the Stonehouse on the school campus. The store functions on the honor system and is open to all Westminster and Griffin Academy parents year round.
The WPC provides this popular service to the Westminster Community enabling families to purchase good quality, gently-used uniforms economically for the Griffin Academy and Westminster School students while supporting the school. Donated uniforms are sorted, washed, pressed, and prepared for sale by WPC volunteers. All proceeds from the sales benefit Westminster School.
Call the Westminster School Front Office to schedule your visit. Price lists for all items are available in the Stonehouse and payment is accepted in the form of cash or checks made payable to the WPC. Please contact the front office to schedule your visit and to leave your payment.
The WPC accepts gently used uniforms year-round. Once your child has outgrown a uniform item please wash it and drop it off at the Stonehouse. Donation receipts are available for your convenience.
We are pleased to announce that starting in the 2021-2022 Academic Year, we will be including costumes for the feast days in our inventory. We will announce a collection date and time for you to drop off any used costumes for these events which include Native American Day, Egyptian Day, Greek Day, Roman Day, and Medieval Day.
The WPC depends on parent volunteers to ensure that donated items are ready for re-sale. Contact a member of the WPC board if you are interested in helping. We need volunteers to inspect the donated items, help with minor alterations, wash and press items as necessary, and update the inventory on the racks on a seasonal basis. Volunteer here.
Contact the front office to schedule an appointment to visit the uniform store. Appointments are during school operating hours only.
The store is in the basement of the Stone House. Just enter through the back door and head down the stairs, then turn left. You’ll see the racks of clothes in the back room.