Success of schools often relies on the backing of a community.
Area residents will have an opportunity to support the Prairieview-Ogden School District on March 2 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. as the PVO PTO hosts its spring consignment sale that Saturday.
The sale will be held at Prairieview-Ogden South Elementary located at
304 N Market St. in Ogden, Ill.
During the spring sale, shoppers can find deals on spring and summer clothes, toys, books and shoes. The fall consignment sale to be held after the beginning of the 2019-20 school year will feature fall and winter items.
Jessica Heuer, who stepped into the lead role for the consignment sale in the fall of 2018, said shoppers can expect to see items for babies, toddlers, kids and teens. She said maternity clothes for expectant mothers are also available.
“The whole gym is full of stuff,” Heuer said.
With a month to plan for the sale, Heuer said consignors and volunteers can begin to prepare by contacting the PTO for more information on how to consign, for tags for their items or to secure a time slot to volunteer.
After receiving the consignment information from the PTO, consignors set the prices for their items. At the end of the sale, consignors will receive 70-percent of the ticketed price on items that were sold. The PTO keeps the other 30-percent.
“Anybody, not just people in our community or people who have students at the school, can be a consignor,” Heuer said.
The group’s focus is to make the PVO PTO Consignment Sale something that people look forward to coming to twice a year.
“We’re accepting items, but, of course, we want them to be clean and in very good condition,” Heuer said. “We want to build our reputation of being a really good sale.”
New for the 2019 sale, shoppers can get access to the event at 7:45 a.m. for a $5 fee.
With the money raised, the PTO works with PVO North and South Elementary Schools and PVO Junior High to identify needs. The PTO funds the library and has purchased Chromebooks and projectors in the past.
“If the school has an item they need, then they reach out,” Heuer said.
As a mother of three small children, Heuer has enjoyed being both a consignor and shopper prior to organizing the sale.
“For me, I’m always looking for affordable things for my kids,” she said. “I have young kids and they go through thing really quickly. It’s nice to have a quality sale with items that are reasonably priced.
“I have also sold a lot of things at the sale because I don’t have time to organize my own garage sale. This way I just tag my items, drop them off at the school, and they take care of the rest.”
Volunteers who take a slot during Friday night set-up, Saturday during the sale or clean-up, receive the additional bonus of after hours access to the sale Friday night after all the items are out.
“You get first dibs on all the great items without chaos or a lot of other people around,” Heuer said.
Whether volunteering, consigning or shopping, Heuer said it’s important that community members are invested in their local schools.
After moving to the St. Joseph-Ogden area more than a decade ago, Heuer said that she knows the area is a great place to raise her family.
“I just like that there is a good sense of community,” she said. “Everyone is very supportive and people are so friendly. They are very, very nice and welcoming. It just makes you feel like you belong somewhere.”
“We have a great school district in this community, and I feel like it’s our job to support them in any way that we can. I think it’s really important for parents to get involved in their children’s school and support them.”
To register as a volunteer or consignor, email pvo.pto@hotmail.com, visit the PVO Consignment’s Facebook page or fill out this Survey Monkey form.
