By STEPHANIE BUNKER
Moapa Valley Progress
Students at the Grant M Bowler Elementary School were excited to have their mothers join them before school for a muffin breakfast on Wednesday, November 7. This is the second year the PTO has organized Moms and Muffins and they once again had overwhelming success.
Bowler parent Esther Lee, an organizer of the event, said that they had eager moms showing up 20 minutes early at 7:40. A steady line continue until 8:30, she said.
Jennifer Richins is the parent who first presented the idea last year. She has continued to help organize it. “Its fun to get together as moms with our kids and meet other moms and our kids friends,” Richins said.
She explained that she, along with other moms, works in Las Vegas and can’t attend many of the other school events that happen during the day. “It gives us an excuse to tell our boss that we will be coming in late that day to spend time with our kids,” Richins said.
Lee said that the PTO learned a lot after their first year and things went more smoothly this year. Last year they had planned for 600 people and purchased muffins from Costco then cut each muffin in half. She recalled that by 8:15 they were cutting them into fourths to get them to stretch a little farther.
This year the PTO shopped around to find the best deal on muffins and was able to get a better discount from Overton Lin’s Market, Lee said. They planned for 650 people and had a better serving size with mini muffins. Plenty of muffins were left over this year that the PTO can use for future events, she said.
Besides muffins there were also several flavors of milk and juice to drink. They even accommodated for moms and kids with food restrictions offering gluten free muffins and soy milk.
As the moms and kids entered the cafeteria they were filed into a line to the tables where they could serve themselves muffins. Several generous dads of the PTO volunteered their time to keep the tables stocked and lines flowing smoothly.
Esther Lee’s husband Brett was there helping out. “I have more of an opportunity to help because I run my own business and I can adjust my schedule,” he said. “It is also good to give the moms a break, every mom was grateful and it sounded like they had a great time.”
Stephanie Tobler attended the Moms and Muffins. She was happy to spend time and eat breakfast with her children and support them. “They love to bring their parents to their little domain,” she said.
