Santa Monica Place and Westside Pavilion shopping centers presented $40,000 to 40 Westside K-12 schools last Friday morning (including a handful from Santa Monica) that participated in the latest School Cents community rewards program.
The ceremony took place in the community room at Santa Monica Place. Both shopping malls are owned by retail operator and developer Macerich.
The School Cents program allows the community to “give back” to Westside schools with purchases made from stores and restaurants or by attending mall events at Santa Monica Place and Westside Pavilion during Sept. 1, 2013 – April 30, 2014.
Shoppers redeem their receipts for points (five points per dollar spent) and allocate it to a participating school of their choice.
Based on accumulated points from the program, each school receives mall Visa gift cards ranging from $200 to $5,000.
The gift cards are used to purchase supplies such as books and educational games for classrooms as well as support or fund student and academic achievement programs.
This was particularly a good year for Santa Monica High School, which was awarded $5,000.
The 40 participating schools were Beethoven Street Elementary, Beverly Vista School, Broadway Elementary, Canfield Avenue Elementary, Canyon Charter School, Carlthorp, Castle Heights Elementary, Clover Avenue Elementary, Crescent Heights Magnet, Daniel Webster Middle School, Edison Language Academy, El Rodeo School, Franklin Elementary, Good Shepherd Catholic School, Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, Holy Spirit/St. Mary Magdalene, John Muir Elementary, Magnolia Science Academy, Marquez Charter, New Horizon School, Nora Sterry Elementary, Notre Dame Academy, Overland Avenue Elementary, Palisades Charter High School, Redeemer Baptist Elementary, Richland Avenue Elementary, Santa Monica High School, Short Avenue Elementary, SMASH, St. Augustine Catholic School, St. Jerome School, St. Martin of Tours School, St. Paul the Apostle School, St. Timothy School, The City School, Warner Avenue Elementary, Webster Elementary School, Westwood Charter, Will Rogers Elementary School and WISH Charter.
The School Cents program began in the 1996 – 1997 school year. Since its inception, Santa Monica Place and Westside Pavilion have contributed more than $350,000 to local schools through the community rewards program.
The School Cents program started its new cycle on May 1, 2014 and will run through April 30, 2015.
For more information or to enroll a school, visit www.santamonicaplace.com, www.westsidepavilion.com, or call 800.539.3273.
