Free Methodist Kids Savings Accounts

We know that raising children can be costly. We also know that some of these costly adventures are great ways for kids to make new friends, deepen existing friendships and connect with God more intimately. For this reason, we have established kid savings accounts for children in our ministry.

What is a Kid Savings Account?

It’s not a separate bank account for each child, but it’s a way for us to keep track of funds earmarked for specific children in our accounting system.

How do I get money into my Kid’s Savings Account?

You can buy Dillon’s, Kohl’s, Checkers or Hy-Vee certificates from the church. This is a dollar-for-dollar exchange. If you buy $100 of Hy-Vee certificates, you pay $100 and get $100 back in buying power. The way we make a profit is that Hy-Vee only charges us $95 for these certificates, so we put the extra $5 into your Kid’s Savings Account. Hy-Vee and Kohl’s offer us a 5% savings; Dillon’s and Checkers offer us a 6% savings.

How do I buy certificates?

They are currently on sale in the church office during weekday office hours (8 a.m. – noon and 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.). We’d like to have them on sale on Sunday mornings in the brick hall, but need people to work the table. If you’re interested in coordinating that or helping out, let me know.

Tips for making the most from these certificates:

• Use Dillons or Hy-Vee certificates for gas. You can use Dillons certificates at any Kwik Shop and also use your Dillons card to get an additional 2 cents off.
• Use Dillons or Hy-Vee certificates for prescription medicines. If you buy a lot of prescriptions, it might be worth changing your pharmacy to Dillons or Hy-Vee to take advantage of this profit.
• Get a Kohl’s charge card and take advantage of their monthly savings for charge card users. Then, when your bill comes, buy Kohl’s certificates from the church, take them to Kohl’s and pay your bill with them.
• Get family members, friends and neighbors to buy certificates and donate the profit to your child. When certificates are purchased, each purchaser gets to indicate how they want the profit allocated. It’s very feasible that your son or daughter could totally pay for CLC, VBS and Jr. Camp with certificate profits if you use them faithfully for a year.

Sample savings for a family of four

What can Kid’s Savings Accounts be used for?

The mony can be used for registration fees for any church program (like VBS and CLC) and for camp or other church activities. We cannot give children cash from the account or allow them to use it to buy snacks or other incidentals.

If you have questions, please contact Carolyn Heacock.