Q. What do you get when you add 6,800 bierocks and 3,500 cinnamon rolls?
A. $19,795.77.
That total is the result of a recent Sunflower Diversified Services fundraiser organized by two area women and volunteers from the non-profit agency. All proceeds have been earmarked for efforts to find more avenues to independent living for adults with developmental disabilities in central Kansas.
Kay Thompson and Dee Krier, who are sisters, cooked up the bierocks and cinnamon rolls to show their support for Sunflower.
“We feel that Sunflower is a very worthy cause,” Thompson said. “The help they provided to this project was outstanding. We want to thank everyone who helped in any way to make it a success.”
Thompson, rural Pawnee Rock, also noted that the Knights of Columbus in Great Bend was “very generous in allowing us to use their facility. This was a great community service on their part.”
Krier, of Claflin, and her sister spent two four-day weekends in the kitchen making the goodies.
Jim Johnson, Sunflower executive director, said he and his colleagues have been overwhelmed by the women’s generosity, as well as the community support for this fundraiser.
“This was an effort by Sunflower employees, board members and their families to raise funds to replace reductions in tax support,” Johnson said. “It shows we are willing to donate our time to help ourselves and not constantly ask our friends and donors to do all the heavy lifting for us.”
But all this wouldn’t have been possible without Thompson and Krier, Johnson said.
“Kay and Dee approached us with this opportunity,” Johnson noted. “We are so gratified that they realize the importance of supporting people with developmental disabilities and delays.”
While Sunflower’s Invest in Kids Club supports early education programs, the money raised in this recent project will help the agency increase options for people who want to live more independently in the community.
“With fewer Medicaid funds available,” Johnson explained, “we now have to make a concerted effort to raise local dollars. The people we support have the right to live as independently as possible, rather than in group settings.”
Sunflower serves infants, toddlers and adults with developmental disabilities and delays in Barton, Pawnee, Rice, Rush and Stafford counties.