Published: July 01, 2009 11:01 am      

Teens hold bake sale to help lung cancer victim

“Come Hungry, Leave Happy” is the sign held up by two Lindsay teenagers hosting their fourth bake sale benefit to raise money for a citizen in their area who needs help. The stand is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Friday at 124 Sixth St. in Lindsay.

This year their bake sale will benefit Doug Stoffels of Muenster. Stoffels is a veteran of the U.S. Army that is undergoing treatment for lung cancer.

“He is having a really hard time because he can’t work due to his illness and surgeries,” said Megan Schumacher. “He said he is very appreciative we are doing this for him.”

Fourteen year old Brianne Sandmann and Schumacher have been best friends since Kindergarten. They both love to bake and have grown up together in the kitchen as well as in the classroom.

Last year the girl’s benefit assisted Randel Sawyer of Era. “He also had cancer and he is now cured,” said Schumacher. Their benefit raised $2,730 for Sawyer.

“They’ve just had a rough time because of insurance and stuff like that,” said Schumacher of the people they have helped.

The girls make their stand on Sixth Street next to Sandmann’s mother’s hair salon, “Marilyn’s Classy Cuts” and in the yard of Schumacher’s grandmother’s house.

The girls on-site marketing strategy is very effective. When they see a car passing by, they run out to the street to flash their signs and to call out to passersby to let them know there is a bake sale going on for a good cause. They said they also put signs up all over town so people would know what was going on so they could help out.

“I’m really proud of them,” said Sandmann’s mother, Marilyn Sandmann, who stopped by to bring them some chips and salsa. “They bake most of it themselves. This morning they had 4-5 tables full of food.”

Marilyn said even two summers ago when it rained so much the girls just sold the goods out of the garage and they still did very well.

Marilyn said the annual benefits all started when Sandmann decided to earn some money one summer by holding a small bake sale and manning a lemonade booth outside the hair salon. She earned $30. She wanted to do it again the next year and her mom said “okay, now you need to do it and give the money to someone else.”

“They’re going to go home this afternoon and make more for tomorrow,” said Marilyn.

Sandmann said “we stay up late and cook, bake, sell, bake sell, bake sell. We bake most of the stuff ourselves.”

“They can’t believe we do all this baking,” said Sandmann of their friends. “They can’t believe we have all this energy,” said Schumacher.

“A lot of people help out and donate items for us to sell too,” said Schumacher.

“People are really good about stopping and supporting the effort,” said Marilyn.

Marilyn said that after 1 p.m. when the stand is closed, any baked items remaining go over to the hair salon so people can still come by to purchase them.

This year both girls will be freshman at Lindsay High School. Beyond high school, Sandmann plans to become an interior designer and Schumacher plans to become a pharmacist.

Sandmann and Schumacher said they foresee themselves as keeping their baking a hobby and a way to continue to raise money to help someone in the community.