In Business: Brainerd’s The Center Serving Up Doughnuts Every Thursday

Every Thursday, Brainerd residents file into The Center, a local senior center, to get their hands on freshly made doughnuts.

“It’s doughnut day—best day of the week for everybody,” said The Center Executive Director Darcy Walkowiak. “It’s a great way for us to give back to our community, to bring joy to others, and also find a way to support The Center.”

Volunteers arrive as early as 1:00 in the morning to fry, frost, and sprinkle the doughnuts.

“I usually come in at 5, but there’s people here way before me,” said volunteer Sheila DeChantal. “The people actually making the doughnuts are—I don’t even know what time they come in, midnight now? And then people come in and start frosting, usually about 2 a.m., and I join them at 5 because I do have a full-time job. This is a little side gig. But yeah, it’s kind of a fun, creative outlet. I come in and help frost in the back.”

Selling the doughnuts brings in more money for The Center than any other fundraiser it holds throughout the year. But beyond bringing in the big bucks, creating the sweet treats gives volunteers the opportunity to flex their culinary creativity.

“If I have to have this early in the morning, I got to be a little creative in order to just keep it going,” said DeChantal with a chuckle. “And now, people help me. They bring me stuff when they were traveling that they find, like different sprinkles, different colors, stuff like that.”

She added, “It’s fun. It’s fun to volunteer and meet other volunteers.”

Thursday morning doughnuts is a long-standing tradition with The Center, bringing smiles not only to the volunteer’s faces, but to the community’s as well.

“The thing that makes me most excited about Thursday mornings is just seeing the response of our customers coming in,” Walkowiak said. “That just fuels joy within us, and I know the volunteers really get a kick out of that, too. And they have so much fun watching sort of their favorite customers come in as little ones and picking their favorite doughnuts and growing up with coming to The Center. And it’s just really fun to see the joy and the smiles that everybody has on a Thursday morning because it’s doughnut day.”

Doughnut orders can be placed ahead of time on The Center’s website.