Baking for education

If you are from St. Edward Parish or the Minneota community, you’ve probably heard about the Pie Ladies. Better yet, perhaps you’ve eaten one of their delicious pies.
Pie baking has a strong history at St. Edward Parish. Volunteers from St. Edward Parish have been baking pies as a fundraiser for St. Edward School for over 20 years. The original pie ladies were known as the Grannies and was started by Jeannette Konold. Jeanette, an alumni of St. Edward School, solicited a group of ladies to bake and sell pies to finance a new playground for the school. At the time, Jeannette had several grandchildren attending the school and she was passionate about having a Catholic School education for children of the community.
After the playground was built, the Grannies continued to bake and sell pies for a number of years until Jeannette’s health deteriorated and she was no longer able to manage the work.
During the hiatus when there were no pies, Jeannette talked with her niece, JoAnn Coover about taking over the project. JoAnn, a St. Edward parishioner, spent time thinking about it, and when Jeannette passed away, JoAnn came to say goodbye and promised her Aunt “Netts” that she would start baking pies.
In February of 2017, a new group of pie ladies came together and called themselves “Crusty Pie Ladies”. They are now known as the “Upper Crust” pie bakers. Twice a month, the group gathers and makes 50-60 pies.
Pie baking is an art, and everyone has a special job. There are mixers, rollers, fillers, and fluters; all coming together to create delicious pies.
Rhubarb, peach crumble, strawberry/rhubarb, cherry, blueberry, dark cherry, pumpkin and apple are pie flavors that the group make. Strawberry/rhubarb is the top seller. Volunteers were asked why they do this? The overwhelming response was to support St. Edward School.
“We’ve all had children and/or grandchildren who have attended St. Edward School, and having the opportunity for Catholic education is important to all of us,” they responded.
It’s also a great way to make new friends. This group has raised over $24,000 for St. Edward School.
In addition to having volunteers make the pies, volunteers also help in other aspects of the business, such as selling the pies at the One More Time Thrift shop in Minneota.
Parishioners donate ingredients for the pies; apples, rhubarb and other ingredients. It takes many hands to make the process work.
Current “Upper Crust “ pie makers include; Jo Coover, Pauline Wambeke, Kathy Wyffels, Barb Guttormsson, Charlene Tillemans, Sue Johnson, Donna Bertamus, Janelle Laleman, Mary Ann Sarazyn, Donna Buysse, Marie Kloos, Vonnie Bottelberghe and Pat DeSmet.
The Heavenly Grannies are watching over this group, and are grateful for their work, and continued support for St. Edward School.