SILVERDALE — Jersey Mike’s Subs presented Clear Creek Elementary’s Parent Teacher Association with a check for $1,676 on March 17.

To raise the money, the Silverdale Jersey Mike’s gave their subs away from Jan. 26-30, asking only for donations to be made for the school’s PTA.

“We’ve done a bunch of these,” Jersey Mike’s manager Matt Bullatt said. “Of all the other stores on the west side of Washington, this was the most successful. We did well.

“The Silverdale store is our busiest store in Washington, so we kind of expected that, but it also falls, too, on the teachers and the PTA … really spreading the word that it’s coming and making it successful.”

Bullatt said that anytime a new Jersey Mike’s location opens up in a community, they reach out to the local elementary schools and offer to raise funds for them, which not only helps the school, but also helps spread the word about the location.

“It’s huge,” Bullatt said. “It’s huge for us. We get brand recognition. We’re giving away money, but it’s more important.”

It’s hugely important for the PTA at Clear Creek Elementary, too.

PTA member Annita Safi said that the money they receive from fundraising efforts goes toward numerous projects, including the upcoming play and curriculum provided by 5th Avenue Theatre, “Free Boy: A True Story of Slave and Master.”

Other PTA projects include school festivals, Donuts with Dads, Muffins with Moms, Cookies with Grandparents, classroom grants, books on teachers’ wish lists and for students’ birthdays, reading and math programs, and more.

“We can go on and on about all the smaller ‘This is what our money goes to,’ ” Safi said. “All of that stuff is to help our kids feel supported and to push those reading programs and learning programs.”

Safi said one of the PTA’s biggest annual fundraisers, the holiday shopping catalogue, raises about $500 — a third of the amount raised by Jersey Mike’s. However, Safi said the holiday shopping catalogue is all about the kids, providing them an opportunity to buy presents for their parents, which the PTA wraps for them as well.

“It is for the kids,” Safi said. “There is nothing we do that is not for the kids. There’s always things that the kids need and the teachers need. These teachers put so much money out there from their own pockets … We can put something out there to help with some of that.”

Bullatt and his co-worker at Jersey Mike’s, Stachia White, presented the check to PTA president Matt Carlan and Clear Creek Elementary principal Steve Potter at a student assembly March 17.

Michelle Beahm is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. She can be reached at mbeahm@sound publishing.com.