So. Members of our church made over 1500 pies in about 9 hours yesterday. This is the 8th time I've done this. I'm glad to say that every year something improves and some part of the process moves more smoothly that the previous year. This year's innovation? In the over-the-road trucking lingo, a "reefer" trailer. A refrigerator trailer, to be precise and no, not the "reefer" your mind first pictured... Come on now. We're a church.... in Iowa, not Colorado. What a benefit to be able to cart the freshly assembled pies into a trailer where the temperature hovered between -8 to -12 F. We could transport or deliver pies already frozen, which means we could stack them. O, so much easier to move around.
Glad the pies are made, the project completed, and all seems to be a success. The money raised will help cover some of our church's Fair Share responsibilities for Christian Education. I don't think I'm alone in wondering sometimes if the significant commitment is worth the money, but I can say that we had a good time working hard together.
One conversation I had while working yesterday made the whole project worth it for me. Later in the afternoon, after school had dismissed, a number of our school age kids arrived at the location where we were making the pies. They bounced in, all smiles, eager and asking, "What can I do?" They helped me with weighing the balls of pie dough--a precise 7.25 oz, by the way.
"This is one of my favorite days of the year!" One of the girls said.
"Why is that?"
"Because we make pies! And it's my church!"
That was enough for me.
