Small business owner uses yard signs and donations to pay off local elementary school’s lunch debt

By Peyton Headlee

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    OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (KMBC) — A small business in Overland Park is supporting the Kansas City Chiefs and a local elementary school.

Annie Stowe, the owner of “Annie’s Barn,” made Chiefs yard signs after the AFC championship game. Like any Chiefs gear, it sold fast.

“On Wednesday, 100 yard signs showed up and those vanished like in seconds,” Stowe said. “It was like one day, 24 hours, I was out of yard signs.”

So, she ordered 400 more.

“This is just like above and beyond what we normally do,” she said.

Stowe decided to take some of the profits and pay off student lunch debt at Pawnee Elementary.

“I called them, and I said, I’m thinking I got $500 and I’m going to pay off these school lunches. Right? And they’re like, no, actually $2,000 is our total, but we’d love to have anything you can donate,” Stowe said.

The total was more than she had raised, so she posted to her Facebook page asking for donations.

“By lunchtime, we had the full amount,” she said. “It’s incredible.”

Stowe called the school to tell them the good news. She posted the video to her Facebook page.

“They were ecstatic. They were I think they were crying, too. Yeah, it was really cool,” she said.

She’s calling it ‘Out of the Red Friday’ and is hoping it will be an annual tradition.

She said they have already picked out another elementary school and they plan to do it all again.

There are still signs left. You can order them from her website.

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