PRINCETON — Chelsea Sanchez of Princeton spent Labor Day weekend giving back to her community.

She split $1,000 in proceeds from a mum sale she started in July and donated it to five local organizations — Second Story Teen Center, The Believe Foundation, Arukah Institute of Healing, Princeton Buddy Bags and Bureau County Food Pantry.

“It’s just something I thought would be fun to do,” she said on Saturday.

Sanchez got the idea to sell mums for a cause this year after purchasing them through a school fundraiser last year. With the schools going to remote learning this year, she thought it would be a good fundraiser to do for community organizations who could use the boost.

So, she called up Woldhuis Farms Sunrise Greenhouse in Grant Park and asked how many she’d have to sell to make it worth their time to deliver in Princeton.

“He said, ‘100,’ and I thought, ‘Oh boy, I’m not going to get 100,’” she said with a laugh.

She decided to go ahead with it to see what would happen. Turns out, she was able to sell 100 mums in eight hours after announcing the sale on her Facebook page.

The sale stayed among her friends and friends of her friends could also order.

When the sale ended, the final total was 368 mums in 30 days.

On Saturday morning, her mother, Ursula Sanchez; sister, Ericka Comer; and four friends, Mandy Vincent, Cindy Defreezer, Shawn Lewis and Patty Hult, met at her home in Princeton and helped give out the mums to those who purchased.

People drove through the alley behind Sanchez’s home and received curbside pick-up service for their order. The mums were all arranged neatly by color in the back yard, which helped for quick service.

Sanchez said she is tossing around the idea of doing it again next year, because “raising $1,000 that fast was awesome.”