What is SCRIP and how can it benefit Holy Cross Parish?

Scrip is a fundraiser for the parish.  Gift cards are purchased at a discount and sold at face value.  The difference between the face value and our cost is retained by Holy Cross Parish and used to offset our operating expenses.  In the case of Holy Cross School, Discipleship Formation and Notre Dame Academy families the discounted amount is applied twice a year to tuition (59%) with the balance (41%) retained by Holy Cross Parish to cover shipping with the balance applied to operating expenses.

Holy Cross Parish maintains an inventory of retailers gift cards and certificates.  Please see a copy of the current Scrip Order Form for this listing.  Most of our gift cards are purchased from Great Lakes Scrip who ships the cards to us as we purchase them.  There are several retailers that are ordered locally because we can get a larger discount or they are not handled by Great Lakes Scrip. (Example:  Festival Foods 3%, Fleet Farm 4%, Kwik Trip 5%, Hill Top Café 20%, Rosati's 10% and several others available through St. John the Baptist Parish who handles our local scrip retailer ordering for us.)

Discounts vary by retailers.   Discounts will range from 1.5% to 20%.  You can go to www.glscrip.com. and view a list of the retailers that are available for purchase.  Of course all retailers are not in the Green Bay area, but the selection is pretty extensive.  Some retailers will offer incentives from time to time, especially around some of the holidays.   The current scrip order form lists all the discounts we earn.  We try to take advantage of these offers as we replenish our inventory.  

We use a computer program to maintains these records for each family.  It enables us to track our inventory and keeps records for all the purchases.   Most of our ordering is done on Monday morning which includes any special orders at that time.

We can work with  Great Lakes Scrip to purchase 1 large card rather than several small denomination cards for some of the retailers.  Just ask us if this is available for your purchase.  This needs a little planning as it can take up to 2 weeks to purchase and receive these special cards.  (Example:  one card purchased for $1000 rather than having to purchase 40 - $25 cards).

Think ahead for your vacations.  Some hotels, motels and car rentals offer discounts from 8% to 12%.  (Example:  Best Western Hotels offer a 12% discount, Carnival Cruises 8%).  If you have a business that uses a lot of fuel for your vehicles, you can purchase cards in $100, $250 and sometimes $500 denominations and Holy Cross Parish will benefit from the purchases.

You might also consider joining together with your family and friends when you make your purchases so that Holy Cross will benefit from the purchases.  If you are doing this with a School Family, Discipleship Formation family or a Notre Dame Academy family, the family that you support will receive the tuition credits.   In all cases, Holy Cross Parish benefits from your purchase.  We all have to purchase groceries, fuel for our autos, clothing and household goods, sundry items and etc.   

Purchases can be made at the weekend Masses, Mondays 9:00 a.m. until 11 a.m.,  on Wednesday 12:30 p.m. until 2 p.m. and Friday mornings 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.  All purchases take place at the Parish offices.  Scrip is also available on Wednesday evening in the Holy Cross School lobby (5.45 p.m. until 7:15 p.m.) when Faith Formation Classes are in session. 

The financial benefit from the use of scrip can be tremendous.  (Example:  If 200 parish families purchased $500 of scrip each month with a 4% average rebate, we could return $4,000 to the parish monthly).  Multiply this amount times 12 months and Holy Cross Parish will bring in $48,000 to be applied toward our operating expenses. 

Many of our School families have made Scrip purchases.  Scrip is also used by  Faith Formation families to apply to their tuition cost.  This will take into account about 120 parish families.  The 200 parish families used in the previous example does not include Holy Cross School or Discipleship Formation families.  We also offer this same benefit to families with students attending Notre Dame Academy.

Most of the scrip cards are debit cards and can be used until the balance of the card is consumed.

We are always looking for individuals to help sell scrip at weekend Masses.  If anyone is interested, please send an email to the email below.

If anyone has any questions or concerns regarding Scrip, please feel free to contact our Scrip Coordinator—Steve McDonnell at [email protected].

Scrip Order Form