Members of the Geneseo Middle School PTA are calling on the community to help with an attempt to win $100,000.
Geneseo Middle School is one of more than 4,000 schools nationwide competition for 10 monetary prizes offered by U.S. Cellular in its “Calling All Communities” contest.
“We’re calling it a bailout for schools,” said Kevin Schuster, a public relations spokesman for U.S. Cellular. “The long and short of it is that many school districts are literally in crisis mode, and U.S. Cellular cares about kids and the quality of education. This is about giving back to schools.”
U.S. Cellular locations, including Duricks’ LLC in downtown Geneseo, are distributing cards containing codes.
“Each card has a unique code, and participants must go online, type in the code and vote for their selected school,” explained Schuster. “The code is for verification purposes and can only be used once. We want to make sure it’s a one person, one vote type of thing.”
The contest is open to everyone 18 and older. “You don’t have to purchase anything, and you don’t have to be a U.S. Cellular customer,” said Schuster. Information provided for the contest is for verification purposes only, he said. “We’re not going to turn around and solicit you for anything.”
Though Geneseo has a variety of elementary schools, PTA representative Joni Beck said the PTA is asking that votes only be cast for Geneseo Middle School.
“We figure if we consolidate our votes, we have a better chance of winning,” she said.
If Geneseo Middle School selected as a winning school, funds would be split between schools in the district, with the Southwest, Northside and Millikin PTAs receiving $40,000 and the high school/middle school PTA receiving $60,000. No PTA would do any fund-raising in 2010 if Geneseo was a winning community.
“The contest may be a pie-in-the-sky type thing, but we thought it was something we should at least try to do,” said Beck.
Votes will be accepted until Jan. 15, 2010, with winners to be announced in February.
“Last year, schools used the funds for things like scholarships, computer labs, playgrounds and gym renovations,” said Schuster.
Geneseo, Ill. —
