Sisters Berta Sailer and Corita Bussanmas founded Operation Breakthrough, a nonprofit childcare center, in 1971 to provide support for Kansas City's working poor.
Sailer was raised by her widowed grandmother, an upbringing that many of Operation Breakthrough's families could relate to.
"She didn't grow up with a lot, you know, and so I think she understood how lonely it can be if your bio family isn't able to be there for you and there's not a lot of money," said Jennifer Heinemann, Operation Breakthrough's director of stewardship and planned giving.
Sailer died last week at the age of 87.
Heinemann met Sailer and Bussanmas in 1989 as a newspaper reporter. Captivated by their work and passion, and Sailer's sense of humor, Heinemann became a board member and eventually an employee at the center.
Now over a half-century old, Operation Breakthrough serves more than 700 children, and provides social services including educational, health care, a food pantry and workforce development.
Sailer took Michell Jones and her children into Operation Breakthrough after the family fled an abusive relationship.
"She is a woman that, she didn't care where you came from," Jones said. "She loves you for who you was. She was there for me."
- Jennifer Heinemann, director of stewardship and planned giving, Operation Breakthrough
- Michell Jones, pantry and donations specialists, Operation Breakthrough
