By Bethany Dunbar, Community Programs Manager, Center for an Agricultural Economy

By Thanksgiving morning, the annual Pies for People project based in Hardwick will have supplied over 300 pumpkin and fruit pies for holiday tables in Hardwick, Craftsbury, Albany, Barton and surrounding towns.

This year Pies for People will go back to its roots from before the project even had a name. 

In the year 2000, Zarina Castro, who lived on a class four road in Walden and served as a deacon at St. John the Baptist church in Hardwick, knew that holiday baskets were being planned for the Hardwick Area Food Pantry. The pantry is based in the church but since the pandemic has expanded to serve locations in Craftsbury and Albany as well.

“Well you can’t do a Thanksgiving basket without a pie,” she told her team, and agreed to bake the 30 pies needed for holiday baskets that year. The first year she cooked them at home, and transporting them was a nightmare. So the second year she cooked them at the church. She was transferred to a church in Stowe around the time the Pies for People project began ramping up at Sterling College.
 

The project got its name in 2008, and currently it is managed as a group project by the Center for an Agricultural Economy, the Hardwick Area Food Pantry, and Sterling College with support from Salvation Farms, Hazen High School, and dozens of volunteers. 

The project has grown over time, and in recent years, the team has baked about 150 pies a year. With a goal of 300 this year due to increased demand, the team started planning early. No stone was left unturned in its search for folks willing to donate pies or ingredients. Cabot Creamery donated a case of butter, Buffalo Mountain Market donated bulk quantities of spices, Salvation Farms donated squash, and many volunteer bakers donated all the ingredients needed to bake pies at their homes for the project. Shaw’s, Hannaford Supermarket, Tops Friendly Market, and Price Chopper Supermarket have all pledged pies or gift cards for ingredients, and Positive Pie in Hardwick donated pizza boxes to box up the individual pies.

Total estimated number of pies baked for this project since 2008 is 1,600. This outpouring of generosity will fill 300 holiday boxes and community dinner tables to brighten the season for hundreds of families, neighbors and friends.
 

Just in time, Zarina Castro retired and had the time to organize a baking day at the Hardwick church again to bake 80 pies. Ms. Castro grew up in poverty and for that reason feels especially glad about being able to make sure no one goes without a really nice meal for the holiday. 
 

“For me it’s fun,” she said. She has a 10-year-old helper named Malaky Downing who is excited for the baking days, as well as some other helpers who have offered. “I love engaging other people in this.”