Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 4/13/2022
HARDWICK - After raising over $4,000 in butter braids and cookie dough, the Hardwick Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is planning for more fundraisers in the spring.
“We thought it was a great opportunity to try something new,” said PTO President Leah Larson of the recent fundraiser. “We had never done it before. Due to COVID[-19], our type of fundraising had to change and adapt. We were used to doing more in-person hosting events for families to come and they would pay a donation or a fee to be there, but we have to change and adapt because of that.”
She continued, “We figured we would try the Butter Braid Fundraiser and the amount of money that we raised just blew us all away. We just couldn’t believe it. Everybody is really happy and excited. We are so fortunate that we have such a great community that supports the work we do.”
The PTO is a group of volunteers that meets monthly to raise money and host events for students at Hardwick Elementary School. All the funds they raise goes directly back into the school to help pay for educational field trips, classroom needs like indoor recess items and items teachers might need in their classrooms, such as agendas and folders for all the students in the school. The money also will help to pay for activities, field trips, transportation and more.
Their next fundraiser is a lotto calendar in May loaded with prizes from local businesses and community members. The PTO is selling the lotto calendars from April 8 through April 26. The lotto tickets are $10 each and the purchaser’s name goes into a drawing every day with an opportunity to win 31 times, as there are 31 days in the month of May. The PTO will draw the names and post the winners in a video on Facebook every day. The prizes range from family game night baskets, to museum passes, to baskets from local farms in the community.
The PTO is also hosting a Scholastic Book Fair in the middle of May. All proceeds from the bookstore will go into a book vending machine for the next school year. Through this book fair, the PTO hopes to raise enough money to purchase books to go into the vending machine.
“We want to make sure that financial need is never a barrier for any of the students to go on a field trip or participate in any type of activities,” Larson responded. “We’re continuously just trying to raise money for those kinds of things, making sure they have anything and everything that they need in their classrooms.”
Those interested in volunteering with the PTO can visit their Facebook page. Larson said the PTO is always looking for different types of fundraising ideas. If someone has an idea that they think might be successful, they are encouraged to pitch it at a PTO meeting.