The “Box Tops for Bill” fund-raising effort in Sun City this past spring was unique and successful.
The association’s three performing arts groups – Concert Band, Prairie Singers, and Theater Company – joined with the Huntley Community Radio and the Sun Day in a community-wide effort to help raise funds. The purpose was to bring Bill Haley, popular singer, songwriter and author, to Martin Elementary School in October as an artist-in-residence.
The effort featured cash donations, and the collection of box tops from grocery store products and donating them to the school district’s effort.
Haley’s visit is costing the district $7,000. The project’s coordinator was Brent Mullane, music specialist at Martin. In a May 17 final “thank you” memo to Sun City’s performing arts groups representatives, Mullane said, “We have much to celebrate. Overall, we have brought in 27,644 box tops this year, the PTA has helped us raise over $2,000. Combined with past box top money and other community and business donations, we have raised $6,400.”
Boxtop donations brought in close to $3,000, according to Mullane’s numbers. Each box top was worth 10 cents to the fund-raising project.
In an interview with the Sun Day, Mullane said, “Two more fund-raisers in May put us over the top. We appreciate the participation of Sun City’s groups. They played a major role for us.”
Over the past 15 years, Sun City’s Prairie Singers chorus and Concert Band have participated with the school district’s performers in concerts, and the Prairie Voices, an affiliate group of the Singers, has performed frequently at District 158 schools.
