Onbrand

As a member of the National PTA, our local chapter has been recovering post COVID. My oldest child started school in the Fall of 2020 and the PTA was not allowed in the building. Being in a low income area and a Title 1 school the PTA had been struggling to find the programs they had once been able to provide watching them one by one get cut. In the Fall of 2022, we were finally allowed access back into the school with our students where we could see the needs all around us.

I have personally been involved with the PTA for 5 years, and it's been quite the rebuild. We have been able to bring back assemblies, RiF (Reading is Fundamental) book distribution, field trips, Christmas gifts and, most recently, we have added Teacher Appreciation.

A few years back, as Teacher Appreciation week approached, I asked our leadership what we do for teachers. It was overwhelmingly silent. These teachers who do so much for our children, were not being shown that we truly appreciate their effort in a crazy world. After spending countless hours in the school, I can truly say, the profession is not the same as it used to be. These teachers are navigating some of the craziest behavior issues, state regulations and curriculum demands and they do it everyday with grace.

Anyway, that first year, not having any funding, I used my own money to get each of the staff a small piece of candy (we have 175 of them!) and I attached cute sayings to them. ("You are the most appreciated Teacher in the whole Milky Way" or "Has anyone told you 'Resses'ently how much you are appreciated?!)) The following year, I set my sights higher. I wanted to feed them all lunch, but I only had $200 in the budget. With many hours of brainstorming, I came up with an idea to get the lunch donated by our local community. Being a small and low income community, there wasn't a restaurant willing AND ABLE to donate the whole meal. However, we found a few restaurants that were able to each donate a small part of the meal and other community businesses willing to give monetary donations where we could purchase more food items. In fact, we had so many donations, we fed the entire staff for 2 days! Additionally, we had 30 or more gift cards, baskets and other donated items to do a raffle for the staff as well. Our local businesses really pulled through for us that year and continue to sponsor many events at our schools and our local youth sports.

Recent tax increases have made it increasingly difficult on business in our community to give quite so freely. So as a PTA, we are beginning to look for nationwide brands to help us support our teachers. At Christmas LMNT partnered with us, providing a small sample of their product to each of our teachers. The Teachers loved it and many have become consistent customers of LMNT. Now as Teacher Appreciation Week approaches, we are hoping to bring even more snacks, beverages and other health products to our teachers. Teachers are so often offered donuts or cookies and where they do appreciate them, they are often left feeling gross and not able to get through the day with the energy they need. That is why we are focusing on a healthier approach this year. Healthier snacks. Healthier beverages. Products to keep the germs away and so on.

Come join our team and help us let these teachers know, just how much we appreciate everything they are doing for our next generation.