PORTLAND — Twelve years, hundreds of pies and about $40,000 later, Pies for Peace is ending its long-running bake sale fundraiser for Mercy Corps.
Founded by four Washington County women, the Pies for Peace project began in 2003 as way to make a tangible, even if small, difference in the Middle East.
“It’s been 12 years, and most of us are elderly folks, pushing 70, and we have these health issues,” said founder Lark Brandt, 69, as she listed off the hand pains, knee surgeries and bad backs among the members.
“We’re just too old. It just happens. So we decided that it was time to give it up before we forgot to put the sugar in a rhubarb pie again or something.”
Pies for Peace was the brainchild of founding members Brandt, Carol Woodford, Patricia Keeney and Kim Monteleone. The women, who had memories from the Vietnam War, were distressed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. After a few long, ranting photo calls, they decided they needed to do something positive with their energy.
Brandt had some experience with advocacy baking. She had held pie sales as part of an effort to save Washington County’s Imbrie Farm from demolition. (In the end, McMenamins bought the area and turned it into Cornelius Pass Roadhouse.)
Coming off that success, Brandt suggested making pies. Woodford suggested giving to Mercy Corps. Monteleone, whose husband was the assistant pastor at Forest Grove’s United Church of Christ, suggested baking in the church’s commercial kitchen.
Pies for Peace was born.
“I think we just felt really committed to the concept,” said Woodford. “What can you do when the world seems to be determined to be at war most of the time? What small thing can you do? We weren’t changing the world, but at least we felt like we were doing what we could.”
At first, the ladies sold their pies at a number of events: the old Blueberry Festival in Cornelius, the Corn Roast in Forest Grove and the Hillsboro Farmers Market, along with private functions. They were known as the Pie Mammas, until a few men joined the group.
When the Forest Grove Farmers Market began, it became the group’s preferred selling spot. From about 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays, volunteers would bake pies to sell at the market later that afternoon. They’d make between 25 and 30 pies per market, and often sold out.
“We cannot thank Forest Grove enough,” Brandt said. “They are a wonderful lot and great pie-eaters.”
As a way of celebrating Washington County’s farm economy, Pies for Peace always used local fruits. They started with apple, but later expanded to blackberry, blueberry, (“Not our best seller,” Brandt says. “People are widely divided on blueberry pie, it turns out.”) pumpkin, rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb, and the top-selling Cherry N’ Berry. All pies were made from scratch, using a mixture of family and developed recipes.
Prices never changed throughout the years: pies sold for $15 baked, $12 frozen, or $3 a slice.
And despite its longevity, Pies for Peace never turned into a formal entity: no 501(c)3 or even a website. The most formal things ever got was the creation of a bank account. The ladies hadn’t tracked their early donations. They’d simply bring the cash directly to Mercy Corps’ Portland office.
Mercy Corps estimates donations from Pies for Peace at about $40,000 over the years, though Brandt’s estimate of total fundraising is closer to $60,000. The ladies would time their Mercy Corps donations to offers of matching contributions, Brandt said, and would count the total — with match — in their fundraising tally.
Pies for Peace also made smaller donations to other groups, but by far, most of the pie-money went to Mercy Corps activities in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
One of Mercy Corps’ major projects was providing food baskets for displaced populations in the region. Mercy Corps community giving officer Pax Bennett said each basket, which can feed a family of five for several weeks, cost about $90.
That’s about six pies.
“There was even a little video that (Mercy Corps) showed us of a group of young Iraqis,” Woodford recalled. “Because I’m the one who signs the checks, they said ‘thank you, Carol’ from across the seas, and I will never, ever forget that.”
Back in 2003, Woodford had planned to bake pies until fighting stopped in the region. Now, she worries she won’t see that day, but she is at peace with her decision to stop baking. Woodford, 72, retired from the group about two years ago.
“Personally, I felt like I had accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. I felt really good for what had been done,” she said.
Both Mercy Corps and Pies for Peace would love for a new volunteer, or group of volunteers, to continue making pies. Brandt is willing to share recipes and tips with anyone who wants to continue the project.
She’s also considering creating a cookbook of pie recipes that could be published as a Mercy Corps fundraiser and also as a blueprint for anyone looking to hold a bake sale.
Anyone interested in continuing Pies for Peace can contact Brandt via email at mark_lark@hotmail.com.
