What You Should Know About Mother’s Day

To pay homage to my mother today, I want to tell you about things you should know about Mother’s Day. I miss my Mom dearly. She passed over three years ago. If you can, make sure to hug your mother, or call her and say I love you. Let me tell you a little-known fact about GrantWatch. Observing how hard I was working to build up GrantWatch, my mother said to me, “Libby tell me, how can I help you?” In my mother’s late 80s and into her early 90s, she insisted I give her something to do that would be of help. My staff taught my Mom how to tweet on Twitter, and how to post to Facebook and LinkedIn groups all about GrantWatch.

I remember how they would give her a prepared post and a list of groups and my Mom would be happy to have a meaningful task. Though accomplishing this task surely helped the company, its true value was in giving my mother a feeling of self-worth and accomplishment every day. Love you, Mom!

In honor of Mother’s Day, GrantWatch has devoted an entire category to grants for women. In this category, you will find seed money small business grants for female entrepreneurs, college grants for women, enterprise grants and grants for minority women. Grants can be found using both Mother and Maternal as keywords.

Things You Should Know About Mother’s Day from the Beginning:

1. Anna Jarvis created Mother’s Day holiday. Americans celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May. Jarvis started “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children. 
2. The most common flower gifted on Mother’s Day is the rose. Pink and red roses symbolized love and gratitude toward mothers. Carnations were Anna Jarvis’s mother’s favorite flower and are often associated with Mother’s Day. Jarvis used them to honor her mother’s memory.
3. In May 1908, Anna Jarvis organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. Philadelphia department store owner John Wanamaker sponsored the celebration.
4. By 1912, many states, towns and churches adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday
5. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
6. According to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation, Mother’s Day is the third-largest retail holiday in the United States. $28.1 billion will be spent this year on Mother’s Day. This record total is up $1.4 billion from 2020.
7. Anna Jarvis, who founded Mother’s Day passionately opposed its growing commercialization and eventually campaigned against the holiday.
8. 46 countries around the world currently celebrate Mother’s Day.
9. The ‘mother’ of Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis, had no children of her own.

Little Known Facts about Mother’s Day

Anna Jarvis had originally conceived of Mother’s Day as a day of personal celebration between mothers and families. Her version of the day involved wearing a white carnation as a badge, and visiting one’s mother or attending church services.

The History Channel

Jarvis initially worked with the floral industry to help raise Mother’s Day’s profile. However, by 1920 she had become disappointed with the commercialism of the holiday. She publicly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies.

Jarvis openly campaigned against what she called Mother’s Day profiteers. She spoke out against confectioners, florists and even charities. Jarvis initiated several lawsuits against groups that used the name “Mother’s Day.” At one point, she even lobbied the government to have the holiday removed from the American calendar.

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