A self-proclaimed maker and stay-at-home “mom overachiever” has raised thousands of dollars to help pay for local schoolchildren’s lunches by selling homemade yard signs celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs.
LeAnne Stowe, owner of online boutique Annie’s Barn, raised $2,500 to pay off overdue lunch balances for students at Pawnee Elementary in the Shawnee Mission School District by selling Chiefs yard signs.
Stowe has made 500 ‘Get in winners’ signs
- Stowe first made a batch of 100 signs featuring an image of her 1972 yellow Chevy pickup plastered with an arrowhead logo with the phrase, “Get in winners, we’re going winning.”
- Those quickly sold out, and Stowe then made 400 more to sell at Annie’s Barn’s space inside Painted Tree Boutiques, 8500 W. 135th St., Overland Park.
- “We were originally just going to use the design for T-shirts, but it was taking forever for the shirts to get here, so I decided I wanted it as a yard sign,” Stowe said.
- Though she sells a variety of goods online, the Painted Tree Boutiques stall is the only place where the “Get in winners” signs can be purchased.
She asked a local school to pay off lunch debt
- She said she took inspiration to donate a portion of her yard sign proceeds after seeing that Democratic state Rep. Allison Hougland, whose district covers where Stowe lives, had paid off overdue lunch balances for local elementary schoolers.
- “My wife went to school at Pawnee Elementary, so I just called them to ask how much their lunch balance is thinking they were going to say $500, but it was $2,000,” Stowe said.
- Stowe then took to Facebook to tell her customers about her goal of paying off the school’s balance.
- Through both additional yard sign sales and donations, Stowe was able to raise the money needed in less than 24 hours.
Stowe plans to keep raising money for school kids
- Stowe said she’s sold nearly 400 of the signs so far.
- She said she plans to use the proceeds from sales of the remaining signs to go towards paying off lunch balances at another school that her sister taught at for 25 years, though she didn’t want to name the school.
- The Chiefs yard signs can still be purchased at Stowe’s booth inside Painted Tree Boutiques.
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