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Susana Guevara, program coordinator for Buckner Family Place in Amarillo, was praying for a baker. She wanted to bless the residents at Family Place with a special birthday celebration each month and asked God to show her how she could afford to purchase a cake each month.


At the same time, sisters Peggy Burke and DeRenda Bishop were in the process of opening a home bakery. At their church, they learned about Family Place. Desiring to use their bakery for more than just profit, Burke and Bishop visited Family Place, met the residents and instantly felt called to help them. They asked Guevara if they could bake treats and donate them to the residents.


“I kept praying about this birthday celebration and spent all this time trying to figure it out when just out of the blue, Peggy and DeRenda showed up,” Guevara says. “It was definitely an answer to prayer.”


The road that led Burke and Bishop to baking for Buckner started about three years ago after their mother died from a long illness. Burke and Bishop were close to their mother and were her full-time caregivers. Her death was difficult


for the


sisters. Shortly after, Burke’s son died as well.


“We have been through a lot,” Burke says. “We were just exhausted mentally and physically so we tried to take time to ourselves.” After about a year, they started to get “bored.” Burke and Bishop decided to open a home bakery. Neither can remember who originally proposed the idea, but before they knew it, they were pooling their money to- gether, buying supplies and transforming Burke’s garage into a professional, state-of-the art kitchen with double ov- ens, sinks and tools so they could work at the same time. When it came time to name their bakery, they tossed


around a few names and made lists of words strewn together to make different combinations, but nothing ever seemed to fit until they were inspired by the memory of their mother. “Our mother’s name was Lillie, and she was such a sweetheart,” Burke remembers. “She was the most adorable lady. She owned a daycare and everyone would call her Miss Lillie. That’s how we came up with the name Ms. Lillie’s Sweetheart Bakery.” “That name just stuck,” Bishop adds. “It was special


and perfect.” Inspiration from their parents materialized in more than


SUMMER 2015 ISSUE • Buckner Today 45


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