St.
Philip's famous apple pies
 by Noeline Alston
The people
of St. Philip's, Moncton, made and sold 2,800 apple pies this year. It
was a lot of work, a lot of fun and raised a lot of money for the
parish. It also reinforced connections among other churches and the
community as a whole.
The
fundraiser began five years ago with a goal of 200 pies. In fact,
they made and sold 800 that year. With this fourfold achievement
in the first year, and driven by demand and willing bodies, the bar has
been raised each year since.
The pies
are made from scratch during the first week of October each year. The
congregation has developed an assembly line process that makes it
possible to produce the necessary numbers. Apple peeling, coring, and
slicing takes place at one end of the kitchen; and pastry making
happens in the at the other end., Pastry rolling and pie completion is
accomplished on tables in the hall.
 Bowls of peeled
apples and pastry balls are rushed to the tables in the hall, where the
apples are mixed with a sugar-spice mixture and piled into rolled-out
crusts, dotted with margarine, then topped with another pastry layer,
crimped, packaged, and labelled. Instructions, prudently covered in
plastic, guide participants at every stage. Volunteers deliver pies, or
customers come to collect them.
The
assembled pies are not baked. Customers can freeze and bake them, with
instructions provided on the labels for this end stage as well. Special
customer requests even manage to be accommodated: no sugar, no
margarine, or requests for particular spices - or none at all. Every
shift has its quota, and from time to time someone makes a count: "Only
75 more, folks" Somehow there's always time for a mid-shift break, tea
and coffee, along with a cookie or maybe a sliver of cooked apple pie,
a time to sit and rest aching feet and tired muscles before it's back
to the assembly line again.
Hard work
aside, pie-making week has become known as an enjoyable annual event
for members of the congregation, both sexes and all ages. Children wash
apples, and male teenage muscles are invaluable for lugging boxes of
apples, assisting with institutional deliveries, and helping mix bowls
of dough. Most participants who try one shift, initially, willingly put
their names down for more the following year; friends and neighbours,
along with visiting family members and house guests, have happily
joined the effort, and this year volunteers from St. James Anglican
Church have generously joined us.
St.
Philip's pies have become known in many parts of Moncton. Many
customers have bought one or two pies, and then come back with orders
for many more the next year, often having taken orders in their
workplace or among their friends, or simply having decided they need a
stack in the freezer for the winter. The church produces posters in two
sizes for bulletin boards. As a St. Philip's member remarks, "All I
have to do is put up the poster on our work bulletin board, and in no
time I've got orders for 60 pies." Stacks of pies are also delivered to
food banks and to shelters for the homeless.
Boost to
the church budget aside, St. Philip's experiences an annual boost to
its community building during apple pie week. This takes several
aspects: first, and obviously, within the congregation itself and out
to the customers in the community, including the outreach with
donations. But also ties with other churches are refreshed as orders
are taken in their congregations - and in a special way this year, with
helpers from St. James assisting on the assembly line - and with
friends and neighbours of the St. Philip's congregation and the church
itself.
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