Students Baking Pies for Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser

Cory Spencer

On Thursday evening, Chef Sherry Billings and students were hard at work in the kitchen at the Career Center making and baking pumpkin pies for the annual Pie Fest fundraiser for Habitat Humanity of Forsyth County.

Some of the student volunteers take culinary-arts classes at the Career Center and others are members of Habitat’s Youth United group. On Thursday, students from Reynolds High School were on hand along with Joseph Dickerson, a West Forsyth freshman whose mother Joann Davidson works for Habitat. 

Rebecca Gordon, the Youth United coordinator for Habitat, was also there rolling out pie dough.

Rebecca Gordon

Cory Spencer, a Reynolds senior who is the president of Youth United at Reynolds, was filling pie crusts with the pumpkin mix.

Pie Fest will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday Nov. 22 at Knollwood Baptist Church.

“It’s a pretty fun event,” Spencer said.

When people pay the $10 admission fee, they will receive 10 “pie dollars” that can be used to buy slices of pie as well as whole pies and to participate in Pie Fest events. 

People can use their pie dollars to buy pumpkins to smash, to have a Youth United member take a cream in the face and to participate in pie walk, which is a bit like musical chairs. There will be live music. 

In addition to the pies that students and community volunteers have been baking, such local businesses as Camino Bakery,The Flour Box, Café Arthur’s, Cloverdale Kitchen, Tart Sweets and Trader Joe’s are donating pies. Last year, Spencer said more than 200 pies had been eaten or taken home by the end of the day.

“It’s a lot of pie,” she said.

Pizzerias are also donating pizza pies.

“We are getting a lot of support from the community,” Gordon said.

All the money from the event will be used to build a Habitat house.

Sherry Billings

Helping out with Pie Fest is just one of the ways in which people at the Career Center are helping others during the holidays. Billings, who is a culinary arts and hospitality instructor at the Career Center, worked with Melissa Ledbetter, the school system’s homeless liaison, to come up with profiles for 30 students in the school system who are homeless for people to help during the holidays. Billings set up a tree at the Career Center and people have already committed to helping all 30 students.

Students at Carter High School baked decorated cookie ornaments to put on the tree.

And, earlier this week, culinary-arts students at the Career Center cooked Thanksgiving dinner for people in the community. You will find that story at Early Thanksgiving

Knollwood Baptist is at 330 Knollwood Street. For more information about Pie Fest, go to Habitat for Humanity