How eScrip works is that shoppers register online any or all of their existing grocery loyalty, debit and credit cards. Participating national, regional and local merchants make contributions to enrolled organizations based on purchases made using the cards that have been registered. The purchases are tracked and individual shoppers can view online the progress they are making to benefit the enrolled organizations of their choice. Every month, the organizations receive the merchants’ contributions made on behalf of the participants.

“It’s easy money,” Sonnen said. “All you have to do is get people to sign up and they don’t have to do anything else. You’re just shopping. And you can enroll people all over the United States. There’s half a dozen businesses tied into it. Safeway is the only one we have here, but if you have family Outside, you can sign them up to support their grandkids in Homer. That’s a nice part of the program.”

In addition to Safeway, other businesses registered with the program include OfficeMax, Eddie Bauer, American Airlines, Macy’s, more than 700 on-line merchants, and others as they are added. A list of participating merchants, as well as how to become a participating merchant, can be found at eScrip’s Web site, www.escrip.com.

“The hardest part we have is trying to get people to understand that ‘free’ really means free,” said Ruth Fletcher, eScrip’s development director, of the donations made by merchants.

To find out if an organization is qualified with eScrip, visit the Web site and click on “sign up.” From there, a search can be made by organization name, eScrip ID number, city or town and zip code. Twenty-six groups are currently listed for the 99603 zip code. They include parochial, private, public or charter schools, as well as booster groups and church organizations that have youth components. Not all of them realize they have money accumulating.

“We pre-enrolled a number of (organizations) and right now I’m sending letters to the groups that already have money set aside,” Fletcher said. “The money accrues until that group goes into the program.”

How the money gets from the merchant, through eScrip, to the designated organization depends on the area.

“In Alaska, school districts don’t have the capability to take funds and divvy them up, so we try to work with the schools. If they don’t have accounts, we try to work with booster groups. PTA and PTOs have been the best so far,” Fletcher said.

Melody Douglas, chief financial officer for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, said although the district is not currently capable of accepting electronic transactions, a change may be coming.

“In this day and age, most people are heading toward electronic transfer of funds in general, so it’s only a matter of time before we have to figure out how to handle electronic transactions,” Douglas said.

On Friday, Paul Banks Elementary School’s PTA is sponsoring an ice skating party to thank their eScrip participants. The fun begins at 7 p.m. at the Homer Ice Arena. Anyone wanting to register with eScrip also is invited.