By Jessica Dillon
The G.W. Carver Elementary School PTO held a creative fundraiser on Nov. 14, offering parents the chance to order an iced coffee while dropping off their children in the morning. Parents ordered from the car line and picked up their drinks before leaving the school. The fundraiser was a success, helping make many parents’ mornings run a little smoother.
Stacy Peters, PTO president, said about 60 percent of the car rider line ordered coffee. “I would say it was about 60 percent bought a coffee,” she said. “We had to have a conversation with Factory Roast, and they kind of anticipated that a little over half, and they were very right. They really helped us navigate what to expect.”
Factory Roast also connected with the PTO and trained members on how to make the drinks. “They were willing to give us some discounts on some costs to help us raise money for that,” Peters said. Factory Roast is the closest coffee shop to the school, so the PTO was happy to partner with them.
The idea originally came from a TikTok video that members and teachers found. “There was a popular fundraiser on TikTok, and we thought our school, fortunately, has a great parking lot and area for this to work,” Peters said. “You don’t want to block traffic, and you don’t want to block a main road or anything like that.”
The parking lot layout allowed the coffee table to be set to the side while the PTO took orders from cars waiting in line. “Six PTO volunteers got there about 6:45” the morning of the event, “and had everything set up,” Peters said. “We had a couple of members working the line. They would take your payment, and then when you got to the table, you told them what you wanted. We had three different people at the table making multiple flavors of coffee.
“We just had a really good flow going and tried to keep that car line moving as smoothly as possible,” she added. “We didn’t want to affect the timing for the teachers in the school, and we knew people needed to get through that line to get to work.”
Feedback was positive, including from teachers trying the coffee for the first time.
“I am not much of a coffee drinker and usually take mine black, but I do love our PTO—so I purchased an iced coffee for the fundraiser,” art teacher Juandalynn J. Jones-Hunt said. “Boy, was I surprised! I ordered the sugar-free vanilla with nothing else added, and it was fabulous—better than the big-name chain coffee shops, in my opinion. I will definitely be visiting Factory Roast with friends, and I hope the G.W. Carver Elementary PTO partners with this business again. What a great start to the day. Thank you!”
