Dawson County schools are showing their appreciation in the form of new purses.

As part of the National Association of School Nurses' annual school nurse appreciation day, Parent Teacher Organizations across the Dawson County School System got together and took donations to buy their nurses something extra this year.

"The PTOs got together and took donations for gifts for our nurses," said Dawson County School System Lead Nurse Jeannie Edwards. "We also had a purse donated to one of our nurses by Vera Bradley."

Every summer, the association sponsors a nurse appreciation day.

The association helps raise funds for nurse scholarships, research and all-around funding for school nurse betterment.

"Each year at our national conference, every state brings a purse to auction off. This year, we thought we would take it a step forward and give our own nurses a purse."

According to Edwards, the association has already raised more than $1 million to fund these projects, with more than 73,000 schools across the nation collecting money.

The Dawson County school nurses said they were shocked to receive such a gift.

"It means a lot to us that the PTO would do this for us," said Kilough Elementary Nurse Teri Turner. "We just can't tell them enough how much we appreciate what we do.

"We genuinely love taking care of the students and the staff. It really is like family at the schools and for them to give this to us is just so nice."