SD MCC SALE FEATURES NEW GENERATION
SD MCC Relief Sale featuring new generation of poppy seed roll-makers
Wide variety of foods will be available starting at 11 a.m. Saturday
Over the years, Alice Graber has supplied the South Dakota Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale with a mountain of poppy seed rolls to be sold at the bake sale. Even in 2024, at the age of 101, she still made and donated her famous, delicious poppy seed rolls to the live auction.
For the upcoming relief sale this Saturday, July 19, Alice has passed on the torch of her long-standing tradition, not to the next generation, but to the generation even further down the line. Alea, Arianna and Armando Miller, children of Matthew and Digna Miller, are accepting the torch and have committed to bring a mountain of poppy seed rolls to the upcoming MCC Relief Sale to be held in Pioneer Hall on the Freeman Academy campus in Freeman.
Alice learned to make poppy seed rolls in her 20’s when she married and moved to the Freeman community. The Miller triplets trace their first memories of poppy seed making to their church, Salem-Zion Mennonite of rural Freeman, where people gathered to make them as a group. They were just children at the time, so their responsibility was mostly tasting the freshly made rolls. They became more involved during their middle school years.
When asked at what age they learned to make poppy seed rolls on their own, they looked at each other, smiled, and admitted that they still count on their mom to help. It’s a group effort. Armando does the grinding of the poppy seeds, the girls do the rolling of the dough and mom works with the filling. It’s obvious they all know the entire process and could more than likely do each other’s tasks.
Their poppy seed rolls will be available during the live auction when buyers will have the opportunity to take home their tasty treats. The food court, bake sale and silent auction begin at 11 a.m. with the live auction starting at 1p.m. All proceeds will go to Mennonite Central Committee, a global, nonprofit organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development, and peace projects.
