Delicious Pies Make For A Scrumptious Surprise
Okay, admittedly the title Fairy Pie Mothers sounds kinda clunky.
Besides, they’re not all female.
So, let’s just call them Pie Fairies.
Whatever you call them, Judy Dickerson and her cohorts are glad to bring you a free fresh-baked homemade pie. And you can even pick the flavor.
The Pie Fairies are a group Dickerson started in April of 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of people into quarantine. Quite simply, Dickerson missed her friends from church.
So, a group of her friends from First United Methodist Church in Cedar Hill joined her and her husband Dave, and voila! folks started receiving delicious pies. It was their way of saying a person was still on their minds and in their hearts, and those getting the pies delivered to them felt pretty good about the message and the scrumptious surprise.
“I was restless and felt a need to connect and see church friends, and decided I could take pies to them and make a short visit,” Dickerson recalled. “So I baked all day and Dave came home from work early and randomly drove around passing out 12-15 pies each time.
“We masked, social distanced, and tried to stay safe, but allowed folks to choose pies from the back of Dave’s suburban. We were rewarded by people’s reactions.”
A Simple Pie
Dickerson was a farm wife in Kansas before they moved. She learned how to cook in large batches. When they came to Cedar Hill and joined First United Methodist Church, she began by baking 15-35 pies for the Fall Festival Bake Sale.
“My pies are not fancy, but folks say they taste good,” she said with a chuckle.
She said she chose pies because, “I can’t bake a cake to save my life, and cookies are very time consuming. I’m used to baking pies and folks seem to like them.”
Indeed they do, but even Dickerson is surprised at how the program has taken off, she said.
“I am amazed. We never advertised what we were doing, though some people posted pictures of their pies on Facebook,” she said. “It felt good to see how people reacted to the pies. (they weren’t Pie Fairies then) I could see God working through those pies and feel God working in my life. It was a simple thing to do, but it gave folks pleasure.
“We were pretty random when choosing people to get pies, but sometimes a name or a face would come into my mind, so they would get a pie. When they got their pie, we learned that there was something going on in their life that was helped by that pie.”
Special Events, Random Recipients
The list of special events connected to the Pie Fairies includes a 50th wedding anniversary, a 60th wedding anniversary of a Pearl Harbor survivor, a scary medical test or diagnosis, and the first time a husband had to give hospice meds to his wife.
“We’ve had lots of birthday parades in which we didn’t know who they were, but just saw the parade going on,” Dickerson said. “Sometimes we delivered a pie because the week before we went to the wrong house by mistake and didn’t have an extra pie we could leave. So we found them the next week.”
The pies come in an assortment of flavors, including apple, cherry, blueberry, chocolate, coconut, chess, pumpkin, sweet potato, and more. Dickerson makes many of the pies, but she also has the help of several others, including church secretary Nancy Evans and good friends Cathy Burkey and Lucille Ames.
In fact, Evans’ husband, David, is a wood worker, so he built a wooden rack that fit in the back of the Dickersons’ SUV.
“We’d load up the pies for whomever was on the list for that day, and we compiled a list of the folks with a route map, that were to be visited by the pie fairies that day. Then as we made our way to each person’s house, we’d call them and tell them that the Pie Fairies were headed their way with a pie,” Burkey said.
“It’s such a joy to see the people’s faces when we take them around to the back of the SUV to choose their pie. There were tears, ‘Oh, I just can’t believe you chose me to get a pie!’ and more. Our feelings are that we’re doing God’s will in loving people and being servant leaders in our church.”
Delivering Pie Magic Across The DFW Area & Beyond
Cathy and her husband, JW Burkey are the ones who came up with the name Pie Fairies, Dickerson said.
“We called the Burkeys and asked if we could drop by and make a delivery. JW told Cathy that he thought that the Pie Fairies were on their way,” Dickerson said. “The name stuck and later we got Pie Fairy aprons, magic wands, and a sort of uniform.”
The Pie Fairies have not only covered Cedar Hill with their goodies, but they’ve also delivered to Dallas, Fort Worth, Duncanville, Arlington, Forney, Lancaster, DeSoto, Mansfield, Midlothian, and Weatherford. First responders have also received pies.
“We even managed to send a pie for a computer linked friend in Ohio,” Dickerson said. “We have not managed to get pies for computer friends in England, Kenya, and Ireland. That’s just too far for the fairies to try to fly and carry a pie.”
Folks getting a pie receive a phone call about 10-15 minutes before the Pie Fairies arrive.
They are then invited to come to the car and choose their pie.
Surprises Are Part Of The Magic
“Folks are usually amazed at the variety of pies. Sometimes they pick their favorite and other times they try something new,” Dickerson said. “We wish them well, give them a virtual hug and move to the next house. Sometimes we get a call while we are still on the road that they have already had a piece of pie and they tell us how much they enjoyed it.”
Dickerson said the deliveries come to an end when there is only one pie left.
“A pie delivery, to me, has to be special. We’re trying to lift spirits so surprises are a good tactic. Choice is important. So we stop when we don’t have enough pies to have a choice. They have to understand that it’s a freely given gift,” she said.
“We see God in the delivery of these pies. We’ve had people laugh and cry and we’ve seen God in that delivery,” Dickerson said. “It’s a very special feeling knowing that you have helped someone.”
