A moment of guilty pleasure turned into a kind gesture for the people of New York City.
Cheryl Boyle of Brackley Beach, P.E.I., came up with the idea while at home watching news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
“It just clued in that this was live. I was eating a piece of apple pie. I just felt so guilty about it.”
She phoned a neighbour who is a member of the local Women’s Institute branch and talked about how they could make pies to send to volunteers working at the attack site. Boyle then called a transportation company to get a freight commitment, and the United States Customs office to see how easily the baked goods could get across the border.
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“He said he’d waive any red tape.”
A few phone calls later and Boyle had lined up nine companies to supply ingredients. The local grocery store offered its community kitchen for baking day.
Sixteen women, mainly WI members, plus a couple of husbands and volunteers, took two days to make 231 pies with 136 kilograms of apples donated by Prince Edward Island growers.
“I wasn’t a WI member then, but I am now,” Boyle said.
A New York restaurant that is a 20-minute walk from the World Trade Center ruins began distributing the pies on Oct. 3. It was serving free meals to workers digging in the rubble. Boyle said the restaurant needed the pies because it had just run out of desserts.
Boyle said she also received an appreciative phone call from a New York police officer whose brother is a firefighter in that city and who both had vacationed in P.E.I.
Boyle said she’d love to do another pie-making day, but she’s not sure when to hold it.
