From managing multiple fundraisers and charity hospital visits to now being the director of operations at Prairie Hill Vineyard, Broc White has been creating his own pathway since 16 years old. 

White is currently the director of operations at Prairie Hill Vineyard. He graduated in 2016 and continued his education at Butler Community College. After two years at Butler, he went to Wichita State University and graduated in 2019 with a business management degree with a minor in entrepreneurship. Shortly after graduation, he started helping out around the Prairie Hills property and took over the operations almost two years ago as a result of the previous director moving away.

Since he began working there, White has always had admiration for the natural beauty of the venue.

“My favorite thing about Prairie Hill Vineyard is also why I think it is so special,” White said. “First, our staff has truly become a family that I love working with. I also think that we have the most beautiful landscape and environment in the state.”

Prairie Hill is a twenty-acre property with two ponds, three vineyards, a pavilion, an event tent and an indoor venue. Prairie Hill recently won Gold for “Best of Wichita” under the wedding venues category. The venue hosts many private events, but they have also hosted public events. This past October, they had a fall festival with live music, food trucks, local vendors, and more.

During high school and part of college, White was a manager at Wichita Sports Forum and soon after became the assistant general manager. “During this time, I learned so much about managing staff and business,” Broc said.

Thereafter, he became the Accounts payable manager at The Mattress Hub. “I was able to learn about finances and learn how to complete reports,” White said.

Before moving to the vineyard in 2019, White opened his events coordinating company, Anchor Events. He believes that his other positions prior to Prairie Hill shaped him for his newest role.

“All of these jobs shaped me to where I am and how I lead today,” White said.

Before connecting with Prairie Hill, White was highly involved in a non-profit foundation, The Kyrie Foundation. The Kyrie Foundation was created in 2007 in memory of 19-month-old, Kyrie Thome. At just 17 months old, Kyrie was diagnosed with Pediatric Brain Cancer. Kyrie passed a few months after being diagnosed and the foundation was created.

He started volunteering in 2009. He planned his first event, The Kyrie Foundation Family Fun Run, in 2014 during his junior year of high school. He has now raised $85,000 for Pediatric Brain Cancer through organizing the 5K’s and many other events. 

His favorite tradition with the Kyrie foundation is the annual Easter and Christmas hospital visits to the pediatric center in Wesley. These hospital visits started when a generous family that was close to Kyrie wanted to visit her on Easter of 2007. The visiting family bagged up some goodies in trash bags to take to Kyrie. As they were gathering their items, Kyrie was released from the hospital to go to her home for comfort care on her last days of life. 

Even with Kyrie’s absence, the family still decided to distribute the gifts to other sick kids. A trash bag of toys from 2007 has now turned into several truckloads of toys, gift cards, and cash for the kids on the pediatric floor of Wesley for Christmas and Easter.

In 2015, White took over the hospital visits. The foundation now gives each kid a pillowcase full of toys, coloring books, and a stuffed animal. For the parents, they have a parent pack with several gift cards and a story on why they come to the hospital. 

“I’m honored that we have kept Kyrie’s memory alive and used her story to help change people’s lives. Personally, one of my favorite things about being a part of the foundation is that we get to put a smile on people’s faces and change their day just by being kind. Walking into each hospital room, we truly don’t know the story of each patient and their families,” White said. “Their diagnosis could range from the flu, being injured by a family member, broken bones, or even in the last days of their time here on earth.”

As of now, White doesn’t know what the future looks like for the Kyrie foundation fundraisers, but the foundation will continue to visit Wesley each Easter and Christmas.

“For just a few moments, we get to interact and see a hint of joy on their faces. We see excitement. We see happiness. This is why we do hospital trips. Nothing can compare to that joy we have the privilege of witnessing,” White said.