11/29/01

Purchases from SchoolPop.com to benefit playground rebuilding

Both Pond Cove Elementary School and Cape Elizabeth Middle School will be turning over funds raised through SchoolPop.com, the shopping Web site, to the effort to rebuild Cape Elizabeth's playgrounds.

Internet shoppers who use SchoolPop.com can have a percentage of their purchase donated to the school of their choice. If shoppers choose either Pond Cove or the Middle School, their donation will go toward rebuilding the playground at the school they designate.

Cape Play, a group of citizens committed to raising funds for new playgrounds, has developed a plan in three phases to rebuild playgrounds at Pond Cove, the Middle School, and at Fort Williams.

Equipment at the Pond Cove playground, used by more than 500 children each day, is deteriorating rapidly. The Middle School playground, built by parents nearly 15 years ago, is disappearing as one piece after another is removed for safety reasons. And, the playground at Fort Williams has only a few swings and a small structure that is unsafe for toddlers and no challenge for older kids.

For this last complete quarter (July 1 - Sept. 30), residents using SchoolPop.com raised a total of $614 -- $258 designated for Pond Cove and $356 for the Middle School.

So far Cape Play has raised $202,500 of the $479,000 needed to rebuild the three community playgrounds.

Most -- $150,000 -- has come from a bond issued by the Town, and $25,000 has come from a federal grant. The rest has come from other fund-raising efforts.

The group is close to the goal of $215,000 needed to begin Phase I of the project, which includes rebuilding the Middle School playground and about half of the Pond Cove playground areas.

Internet shoppers can use their purchases to help Cape Play reach its ultimate goal of providing safe, fun and challenging playgrounds in Cape Elizabeth.

By pointing your Web browser to http://www.schoolpop.com, Internet shoppers can shop at more than 300 online stores, merchants and catalogues, including such popular sites as llbean.com, amazon.com and toysrus.com.

The percentage of sale donated to the school depends on the merchant.

Also, Shaw's shoppers can register their Shaw's Reward Cards with schoolpop.com to have a percentage of their grocery purchases donated to the fund-raising effort.

To designate your purchases to Pond Cove Elementary School, click http://www.schoolpop.com/cgi/home.cgi?fsid=0230013.

To designate your purchases for the Middle School, click http://www.schoolpop.com/cgi/home.cgi?fsid=0230012.

Cape Elizabeth High School also participates in SchoolPop.com, although that school uses its proceeds for the high school and not the playground project.

Cape Play is sending a townwide mailing to Cape residents this week with more information about its fund-raising effort.