Pies aplenty at LHAND

LYNN – National Pie Day may not have yet garnered the kind of clout that other official holidays carry – there’s no day off from work or school, mail is delivered and there is no gift exchange – but there is pie, and, for that, the people at Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development celebrate.”This is our third annual Pie Day,” said Barbara Morrison from LHAND.LHAND’s celebration takes the form of a bake sale with all proceeds going to the organization’s outreach program. Funds are used to send children to summer camp, adopt needy families at Christmas, supply children with school supplies and a variety of other things, Morrison said.Thursday Morrison and her colleague Cathy Rowe manned a table at Caggiano Plaza laden with pie all baked by LHAND employees. The spread included ricotta, egg nog, chocolate cream, chocolate cream with whipped cream, frosted brownie, apple, blueberry, sweet potato and custard pies, along with quiche and pizza pies. Two dollars would get a slice of sweet and $3 a slice of savory pie, and Morrison said typically they’d take in about $400 for their efforts.”It’s always fun to see what people bake,” Morrison said. “The sweet potato pie is new this year.”The bake sale opened at 11:30 a.m., with a line already formed, and ran until to 2 p.m., Morrison said. By noon, they had made a serious dent in their stock.National Pie Day, an unofficial holiday, was established by The American Pie Council in 1986 namely to celebrate pie. Morrison said it was another LHAND employee, Olivia Lyons, who heard a story about a Maine town that celebrated the day by offering pie in various places all over town.”And we thought, ?we need to do this,'” Morrison said. “We have some really good bakers.”Although there was a vast variety to choose from, Carina Brador waited patiently Thursday because the pie she sought had yet to arrive. Brador, who also works for LHAND, said she was there specifically to get a slice of John Pace’s shrimp scampi pizza pie.”Mr. Pace makes artisan pizzas,” she said. “It is worth the wait.”Anyone who wants to get in on the deal next year only needs to check the calendar.”We are loyal to Pie Day,” Morrison said. “Whatever day National Pie Day falls on, that’s the day we celebrate ? and in three years we’ve never raised our prices.”