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Spending Time At School

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 15, 2007

KEYSTONE - Imagine a place where you can knock out all your Christmas shopping in less than an hour.

If you're a child, imagine being able to do it on your own so you can surprise your parents.

Clutching shopping lists and envelopes of money, Hammond Elementary School students streamed into the school's first Gingerbread Shop last week to check names off their lists. Holiday music played in the background of the classroom as children browsed displays of baseball caps, pens, money clips, key chains and jewelry, much of it personalized with "Mom," "Dad," "Grandma" and "Grandpa," and none more expensive than $7.50.

The Gingerbread Shop is one of the programs Tampa-based American Fundraising Services offers to schools, in addition to more conventional sales of wrapping paper, cookie dough and candles.

Schools order a variety of gifts and send home "shopping budgets," where the child and parent list family members and friends and how much they want to spend on each. The parent tucks in money to cover the budget, and the student browses and spends freely. It's fun for the children, said Parent-Teacher Association member Madaline Rodda, and helps them learn about budgeting and basic math skills.
Rodda held it at McKitrick Elementary School last year when her daughter went there and brought it with her to Hammond when the new school opened. She knew some of the former McKitrick students looked forward to the tradition.

A new school such as Hammond can't replicate everything existing schools do, but it is nice for the children who got reassigned to see some traditions carry over, Rodda said.

Though the shop is not the PTA's main fundraiser, the children have fun and learn from it, Rodda said.

"They love it," she said. "They don't have to shop with their parents."
Adult volunteers helped shoppers stretch their cash to cover everyone they needed to buy for but mostly hung back and let the children cruise the displays and select the ornaments and other trinkets they wanted to give.

"I don't think you have enough money to be buying for the dog, your mom and your sister," volunteer and grandmother Carmela Busciglio said gently to one little boy who kept picking up items.

Of course, a few volunteers dropped hints when their children came to shop. Stephanie Puleo was volunteering but had her eye on a silver "I love Mom" key chain.

"Mommy wants a key chain," she whispered in her son's ear when the first-grader arrived for his turn.

"I'll buy you one," Matt Puleo promised.

His mother hung back and avoided peeking as Matt, 7, scouted the tables to see what he could get for the $15 his parents had provided. "Mom, can I buy something for myself?" he asked.

"One small thing," she said.

He wasn't alone. Children managed to load up on gifts for grandparents, parents and siblings and still have enough left in their budgets for bouncy balls, small stuffed animals and more. Milayna Kokoska, 6, found a tiger to keep, despite a rip in its ear. She also found enough stuff for her entire family. The hard part now, she said, would be not telling anyone. She let her dad and her younger sister see some presents and hoped her sister would keep the secret.

"I have to wait 'til Christmas," said Milayna, who is in first grade.

Matt filled his shopping bag with five presents, but he was staying tight-lipped about whether he had found the gift his mother wanted.

"Don't tell," he said.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor @tampatrib.com.

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