October 26, 2017

Annual meat pie project raises funds, builds community  

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Rebecca Drake

 

LUDLOW – The meat pies are delicious.

But that is not the only reason people return year after to year to buy, and make, the 50,000-plus traditional French tourtières at St. Elizabeth Parish, here. Now in its 36^th year, the annual Meat Pie Project raises funds for the St. John the Baptist Pastoral Center, named for the original parish which merged with the former St. Mary of the Assumption Parish to form St. Elizabeth’s in 2010.

The project has been coordinated for the last several years by St. Elizabeth parishioner James Wainwright, and his wife, Patricia. James, who introduces himself as “Jim,” said, in addition to helping his parish, he has formed closer ties to the volunteers and to the community.

“It’s fun. You get to meet a lot of people,” he told iObserve. “It used to take maybe 20 minutes or a half an hour to get through the Big Y. Now it takes an hour or so because you meet the people here. You get to talk with them. It’s just great.”

Jim also noted the spiritual support that volunteers provide for each other. “We have a woman here who just had surgery on her foot and she got a whole bunch of cards and a lot of prayers for her recovery. The community comes together.”

Parishioner Jeannette Nolan has been volunteering to help make the pies for the last 15 years. She said she enjoys helping her parish and is continuing a family tradition, since her family began the project three decades ago. And while she is happy to help make the five-inch single serving pies, bringing the finished pies to the customers also is a special experience.

“I like to come out front and sell the pies and meet all the lovely people who are so generous and kind and come and buy our pies each year,” said Nolan. “I enjoy the whole feel of it. It really is a marvelous thing.”

“Everyone who comes, once they buy one and try one, they just keep coming back and they tell us how wonderful it is and how it makes their lives easier,” Nolan said. “It’s a great thing for retirees who come and buy pies and give them as gifts to people who are homebound. It’s a really just all the way around good thing.”

Middle school students from St. John the Baptist School, who help in meat pie preparation in the mornings, also appreciate the opportunity to raise funds for the parish. Speaking to iObserve on Wednesday morning, four seventh-graders cited other benefits gained from the experience.

“First of all, we learn to make pies and it makes teambuilding and it helps us to work closer together,” said Cody Martins. He said he also gets to know new students. “Some kids that I’m not usually friends with, I will talk with them because we’re making pies together. And it just helps us to learn new skills and ordinarily we wouldn’t know how to do any of this.”

Benjamin Hamel, who worked at a table with Cody and two other students putting pie shells into tin foil plates, also noted the importance of working together. “Working here, we always have to work with other people and it’s always good that we have cooperation and teamwork,” he said. “We get to have fun with each other and working with each other, we get closer to each other.”

Seventh-grader Olivia Ferreira said that in addition to getting to know other students, “We spend time with older people and we get to learn a lot about what they do – and we learn about how meat pies are made.”

Fellow student Nathan Lucas echoed his classmates’ comments about teamwork and getting along with others and added, “We also get to spend time with the class as well as meet new people and learn how to work with a wide range of age groups.”

Commenting on the age range of volunteers, “from school kids to 98 years old,” Jim Wainwright said that while some older volunteers are initially hesitant about working with the youngsters, “By the last day, they are hugging and kissing each other.”

Not least of all, and noted by the students and adult volunteers alike, is the by-product of evangelization created through the meat pie project.

“More people come every year to this, so also the parish is gaining more people,” said Benjamin.

 St. Elizabeth’s pastor, Msgr. Homer Gosselin, agreed, that the meat pie project “reaches a lot of people” and compared it to the work of missionaries who offer food and other services as a way of living out their Christian faith and inviting others to the eucharistic table.

“We all have to eat and we all like to eat,” he said. More specifically, included with the instructions for heating the meat pies, customers receive a flyer thanking them for their purchase and inviting them to visit the parish; Mass times are also listed on the flyer.

Msgr. Gosselin praised the volunteers and said the meat pie project is “a work of love.” He also commended the involvement of the students and the rapport that develops between them and the older parishioners.

“I love to hear the conversations between the kids and the older people,” he said. Msgr. Gosselin also shared a comment from a volunteer who said, “Look around this room. They’re all smiling.”

As for the meat pies themselves, here are some opinions:

Jim Wainwright, Meat Pie Project chairman: “They’re awesome. They get better every year.”

Cody Martins, student: “I get them for lunch almost every day. They’re very good. I wish they had them more than once a year.”

Olivia Ferreira, student: “They’re actually really good and I love them.”

Msgr. Homer Gosselin, pastor: “There are as many recipes for French meat pies as there are French Canadian families. We have a recipe that is tried and true. They make a perfect meal. They’re just spicy enough.”

Perhaps the best recommendation came from a maintenance staff member who looked up from his work in the pastoral center hallway to add, “They’re just like my mémé used to make.”

Orders for the meat pies may be placed Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. by calling the rectory at 413-583-3467 or the pastoral center at 413-547-0239. The last day to order pies is Oct. 31 and the last day to pick up pies is Nov. 2. Pies can be picked up at the pastoral center, 201 Hubbard St., between noon and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.