May Greetings from the Copperfield Hill Community –
May is a month full of people and events to celebrate. One of the most obvious of these, is Mother’s Day. This day is known widely as a time for family brunches, special gifts, sentimental cards and general outpourings of appreciation and love. However, it is rooted in more somber beginnings. Before the Civil War, a West Virginian woman named Ann Jarvis organized women to improve sanitary conditions and milk contamination to help fight infant mortality. These groups also tended to wounded soldiers during the Civil War.

Post war, Ann Jarvis organized Mother’s Friendship Day picnics and other events as pacifist strategies to unite former foes. With others supporting her efforts, this was a time when many women began to be active in a political role, promoting peace. Ann Jarvis’s daughter, Anna, followed in her mother’s footsteps to continue efforts to unite and celebrate “the best mother you have ever known”. She stressed the singular “Mother’s Day” not “Mothers’ Day”.

Try as she did to keep consumerism out of the picture, she failed. Many organizations used Mother’s Day as a platform to raise money for charity. This continues today.  In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially set aside the second Sunday in May for the holiday.

So, there you have it.  A little bit of history about Mother’s Day.  We wish each and every mother out there, and they come in many forms, a very happy, healthy and blessed Mother’s Day.  If you are in the Minneapolis area, get out and enjoy the sunshine.  It is suppose to be beautiful!