Earlier this year, Community Coffee donated cash to nine area schools as part of their annual Cash for Schools program.

Annunciation Catholic School got $990, Enon Elementary got $905, Bowling Green got $500, Franklinton High got $410, Northshore Charter School got $355, Mt. Hermon got $280, Thomas Elementary got $170 and Franklinton Elementary got $145.

Jodi Conachen, the general manager of communications for the coffee company, said Community Coffee gives money to schools based on the amount of proofs of purchase they collect over a year. Schools get about a dime per proof of purchase.

“The way schools usually work is, they’ll collect year-round and we’ll count what we receive in January and we cut checks for February and March,” she said.

Conachen said the money can be used for anything.

“It is no strings attached,” she said, adding that schools have used the money to pay for everything from school supplies to special programs.

“There was a butterfly garden one year and one of the schools this year built a chicken coop and they were selling their eggs as part of an economics project,” she said. “They can get creative with how they use their funds.”

Community Coffee is based in Louisiana, but Conachen said schools from around the country can participate.

“Public, private, charter, all different varieties of school can participate,” she said. “We don’t distinguish. So long as you’re a registered school then you can participate in the program.”