Union Elementary PTO Mother's Day flower basket sale underway in Buckhannon, West Virginia

“I’ve been a part of the PTO for several years due to my son going to school there and my daughter currently attending Union Elementary,” Perkins said.

“It’s important, as a parent, to be involved in your child’s education," Perkins said. "I’ve been blessed to be able to work at Union and provide the kids and teachers opportunities to make learning more fun. We do that through the PTO activities for them and fundraising."

She added that it is important for her to give back to her community and the school that has done so much for her children.

“Our annual Mother’s Day flower basket sale is in its second year. We partner with Crazy Harry’s out of Elkins. They sell us the flowers at cost so we can raise as much money as we can. We also partner with them in the fall when we hold our annual mums sale,” Perkins said.

Perkins estimated that the Mother’s Day flower basket sale and fall mums sale bring in between $1,000 to $1,500 a year. The money is used to enhance the education and activities that are offered at Union for the students, she said.

Activities and items include a celebrations for Veterans Day and  Grandparents Day, educational field trips, school shirts for the students so they feel a sense of belonging and pride in their school, classroom supplies for teachers, funding for the Teachers Appreciation program, meals for teachers during parent-teacher conferences, and at least one enrichment activity per month for students and staff and also for parents.

“We also do holiday enrichment activities like Christmas. This year we partnered with local business and the students and their parents made Grinch ornaments," she said.

"We also had Grinch-themed cookies and sweets and food. Parents helped their children make the parents," she said.

"We do the same thing at Easter as well as Valentine’s Day. We’ve done a Polar Express-themed event the year before. We want to make the children feel safe and have fun in a school environment where they can have fun while learning,” said Perkins.

She believes that the more parents and community members that they have going into the Union Elementary only provides a better benefit for the children during their learning experience.

Perkins also believes that Union is a great school because it fosters the idea of teaching kids real-life situations.

“They teach them social skills and the principal is amazing. The kids in fifth grade have jobs at the school, like morning announcements. They have to apply for the position and the principal interviews them,” Perkins said.

Every three months the students meet with the principal for a review of how they have been doing.

“When we sell candy grams or popcorn, the students fill out profit/loss forms and learn how to keep track of inventory and sales. We try hard to engage the kids and teach them scenarios that will help them later in life,” Perkins said.

Perkins said anyone interested in purchasing Mother’s Day flower baskets can reach her on her Facebook page, call the school, or talk to any student and they will teach them how to place an order.

Orders will be taken until Wednesday, with the flowers delivered to the school on May 11. The flowers are unloaded by fourth- and fifth-graders, and each knows the drill.

They take the baskets and line them up in various groupings so it is easier to count how many they have. They also help when customers show up to pick up their flowers.

Perkins usually orders extra flower baskets because some people like to buy more than they ordered, or some people missed the deadline.

“We sell between 350 and 400 baskets during the Mother’s Day sale and an equal amount during our fall mums sale,” Perkins said.