Another business will donate a portion of its profits to a fund-raising effort for Emporian Phoebe Hensley, 36, who is in a Topeka hospital suffering from extensive heart damage caused by a virus.
Sharon Ewing, owner of Designs by Sharon, announced Thursday afternoon that she will donate 50 percent of sales from the store’s weekly special on loose roses to the Hensley fund.
The proceeds will be taken from the sale on Friday, April 13. The cost will be three roses for $5.
Bernie Toso, owner of Bad Ol’ Bern’s barbecue restaurant, already has held a fundraiser for Hensley that raised more than $1,800.
For Toso, the event pointed out once again that Emporia is a special place to live.
“We’re lucky to live in a town where people get behind things when somebody’s down and out,” Toso said. “It’s pretty cool to be in a community that does this.”
Hensley entered Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka on March 19, and quickly was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy — heart failure. She is undergoing treatment to strengthen her heart and has lost more than 70 pounds of the estimated 100 pounds of fluid that had accumulated before she was diagnosed.
Hensley and her husband, Tim, and their 8-year-old daughter, Bridget, are not covered by health insurance and the medical expenses are mounting quickly.
Toso, who grew up with Tim Hensley in the same neighborhood, volunteered to help by holding an event at his restaurant.
Toso donated half of all proceeds from Tuesday’s sales of a special “Phoebe sandwich.” The effort brought in more than $1,800 and ran Toso out of some supplies.
Throughout Tuesday, people called in orders and waited in long lines to get their sandwiches and contribute money to the cause, he said. Employees were inundated and Toso, walking out of the kitchen to get a drink of water on Tuesday, said that he saw the situation, felt guilty not to be working, and went back into the kitchen.
“It was crazy all day,” he said. “We sold a total of 455 (Phoebes) before we ran out of meat.”
By 5 p.m., they were out of beverage lids, too, and dashed out to get more.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Toso said that the restaurant was short on staff that day because of unavoidable circumstances. After the community’s generous response on Tuesday, though, that did not matter.
“A normal Wednesday is going to seem like a vacation day,” he said.