by Anna C.
On Sunday, November 19, St. Mary’s held a Thanksgiving bake sale. A diverse selection of traditional fall baked goods were selected ahead of time, posted on a website set up for preorders at stmarykitchen.org, and set to be picked up following liturgy. This effort was the second food sale event put on by “St. Mary’s Kitchen”, which were both intended pilot events for wider public sales to raise funds to expand the church building.
And so it was that on two consecutive Fridays (November 10 and 17), St. Mary’s Kitchen volunteers came together, bringing with them old family recipes, childhood baking memories, and enthusiasm for St. Mary’s vision of renovation.
While some of the volunteers prepared sweet breads and cakes at home, a small subgroup came together in person to prepare the most complex and labor-intensive goods: pumpkin rolls, baklava, and an assortment of hand-made cookies, stuffed with dates or walnuts.
Our first workshop on Nov. 10 was led by Wafaa, an experienced baker and chef who brought with her to the US many traditional family recipes from Syria. She remembers clearly how she used to help her mother cook and bake as a child and can still hear her instructions in her head.
Wafaa expertly taught us how to make baklava, as well as to roll and stuff her exquisite cookies and gently press them into the hand-made, wooden molds she had brought from Syria. As a true artist and a perfectionist, Wafaa did not hesitate to throw out batches of perfectly shaped and delicious cookies because, for reasons incomprehensible to us, they did not come up to her standards. She replaced them with new cookies she spent hours preparing at her own home.
Fr. David led our second workshop the following Friday, Nov. 12. Fr. David took his inspiration for pumpkin rolls from the years-long tradition of making and selling Thanksgiving pumpkin rolls at his previous parish. He remembered the camaraderie of team baking and the impact of the event on the town residents who had come to anticipate their pumpkin rolls each Thanksgiving. There was even media publicity in the local press. He was masterful in teaching us how to bake pumpkin rolls and skillfully organizing us into stations—each charged with a different part in the process.
Both baking events were joyous, multi-generational activities filled with the stories we exchanged, the jokes we made and the laughter that overtook us. The fun and companionship that we experienced exceeded expectations.
We were grateful and touched by the support the project received from the congregation. A wonderful group of bakers — Eleni W., Jim M., Dsa. Tanya D., Maria M., Elaine P., Eva F., Rodica M., Maria A. and Wafaa C. — all volunteered to bake goods at their home and deliver them to the church on the day of sale. Whatever desserts were left over once the preordering closed were snapped up by parishioners during the coffee hour.
While the numbers are not yet firm, we estimate that this sale netted us almost $2,000. With the proceedings of the pasta takeout added, the net revenue from our two small pilots is over $2600. That figure is a drop in the bucket given the $2-3 million that could be required over time to carry out this project. Yet, two pilots have been tested whose contribution could grow in time.
Most importantly, we are uniting behind a shared vision across generations, experiencing fellowship, and an enhanced sense of community.
