St. Patrick’s Catholic School in Perry is closer to their goal of purchasing new playground equipment and a dishwasher thanks to local shoppers and the Perry Hy-Vee.

Late last month, the school and grocery store paired up for a fundraiser that allowed Hy-Vee customers to state they wanted to support St. Patrick’s during checkout and 10% of their receipt would be donated to the school.

A $599.17 check from the two-day fundraiser was presented to Principal Doug Latham this week.  He says the school is very grateful that Hy-Vee stepped up to help.

“We just really appreciate the support they’re giving the school and you know, they’re big players here in the community and we appreciate all that they do.”

Hy-Vee Event Coordinator and Community Involvement Director Larry Vodenik says he got the idea for the fundraiser from another store in Omaha.

“So it’s the people that are directly affected by it that got these coupons, so you’re sort of preaching to the choir.  We had really good response.  We didn’t know what to expect, we had never done this before.  I was happy with the return and everything that we got.  We were glad we were able to support the community and particularly in this case, St. Patrick’s School.

Perry Hy-Vee Store Director Darin Schoop says giving back to the local communities has been one of his top priorities since starting the job last year.

“Growing up in this area, it’s great to come back to my hometown and actually give back.  I had a lot of good schooling growing up (in the Woodward-Granger School District) but definitely to come back to the town of Perry and learn what I can do for the community.  Not just the store, but build the store outside the four walls of it instead of just inside the walls.”

Latham says the plan is to replace their more than 35 year-old dishwasher this summer and new handicap accessible playground equipment in the near future.