From Aggie approved Christmas ornaments to shirts handpicked by the mothers who know maroon and white the best, hundreds of moms will come together during Family Weekend to ensure all of the students at Texas A&M are taken care of.
The Aggie Moms’ Boutique will be held on the second floor of the Memorial Student Center on Friday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, April 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Out of 108 Aggie Moms’ Clubs around the country, 52 Aggie Mom Clubs will be participating in order to raise money for student scholarships or donations to campus organizations.
Peggy Nola, president-elect of the Federation of Texas A&M University Mothers’ Clubs, said the boutique is most likely one of the largest craft and vendor fairs that sell Aggie merchandise.
“If it can be, as we say, ‘Aggie-fied’, the item will be there,” Nola said. “You’ll see everything from planters to Christmas ornaments to jewelry. Anything that can be made maroon, white or have the Aggie logo on it, it will be there.”
Aggie Moms Clubs offer scholarships to A&M students living in the geographic area of the local club. Carolyn Phelan, Class of 1989, who currently serves as the executive president of the Federation, said Aggie Moms’ Club scholarships are available to any student attending one of A&M’s branch locations.
“I’m from Comal County, so our scholarships are open to any student from Comal County that attends Texas A&M,” Phelan said. “It does not matter if your mother is a member or not.”
In addition to the Boutique, Aggie Moms’ Club will have 25 different raffle tables set up in the ballrooms. Colleen Holmes, Class of 1976, fifth vice president and member of Brazos County Aggie Moms Club, said clubs are able to use their own raffles as an additional way to generate scholarship money.
“Our club does an Aggie Moms quilt, where we take all of the quilts that are given out during the school year and put it together in a quilt,” Holmes said. “They also set up an apartment where they have all of their Tupperware and everything that you would need to outfit a kitchen.”
In 2017, the Aggie Moms’ Club reported raising $400,000 from Boutique sales. According to Phelan, Aggie Moms’ Club donates over half a million dollars to A&M annually.
“A lot of money is raised in the local clubs through various fundraisers that they have, and then this Boutique that’s coming up on Family Weekend is the biggest fundraiser for most of the clubs,” Phelan said. “That’s where they come up with all of their money, and it goes back in turn to scholarships and donations directly to student organizations.”
Nola, whose youngest daughter graduated from A&M in 2013, went on to say that what motivates her most is seeing the amount of money that other Aggie Moms’ Clubs raise to provide scholarship money to students who might not otherwise be able to attend Texas A&M.
“I want to make sure that the clubs remain relevant and that they continue to raise the funds to allow students in their communities to attend Texas A&M,” Nola said.