Thank you to all our families and community members who supported the 3rd Annual Willamette Valley Pie Company pie sale fundraiser!
We sold 307 pies and raised $1,100 for the PTA General Fund, which supports the PTA Staff Fund, the Staff Resilience Room, and PTA events (such as Movie Nights, First Friday Morning Coffee Cart, Celebrate Woodlawn, 5th Grade Promotion, just to name a few)!
In the past, in addition to offering pies, Willamette Valley Pie Company has also offered frozen mixed berries to purchase, which was a popular option for families to use to bake their own pies or make smoothies. Unfortunately, due to a lower production volume of fruit (caused by our summer heat wave and wildfires), that was not available this year, but we have let Willamette Valley Pie Company know that families really missed having this item available and that we would love to see it again in the future.
This year, in order to make this fundraiser more accessible to all who wanted to participate, the PTA raffled off some pies, selling raffle tickets for $1.00 each. Although we were only able to set up a raffle ticket table on a few days before and after school, the raffle tickets were popular and we hope to have more days to sell raffle tickets next year.
About Willamette Valley Pie Company
From the Willamette Valley Pie Company website:
Willamette Valley Pie Company was started in 1999 by the Gerald Roth family, who has been growing berries locally in Salem for three generations. What began in 1999 as a small cannery-style operation in a backyard warehouse has quickly turned into WVFC being one of the Northwest’s leading processors of high-quality berry products. WVFC is a family-owned business, not a cooperative, but we work closely with an additional 20-30 local growers each year in order to supply all of our markets.
Each summer we process, on average, 12 million pounds of fruit. We do strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries, blueberries, a large variety of blackberries, cranberries and the local favorite, Marionberries. Though the majority of our fruit is flash-frozen (IQF), we also make purees, straight-pack products and drum stock. These products are generally sold on the commodity market to domestic and foreign users who will combine berries with other ingredients to manufacture food products of their own.
In 2001, WVFC purchased a pie company from a neighbor just down the road. We’d been supplying LaSuisse Specialty Foods the fruit for their pies and when they decided to sell their business we jumped at the opportunity, not only because it was a natural fit for us, but because the company had notoriety with the locals for having pies ‘as good as grandma’s!’ We continue to use their original recipes and build the pies from scratch using all-natural ingredients. Since acquiring the business we have added to the product line, supplying grocery stores, farm stands and restaurants in the region with pies, cobblers, 2-pound bags of frozen fruit, freezer jam, jar jam, honey, syrup and fruit snack bars. Most of our retail product line is also available for school and non-profit fundraisers. We also do custom pack private-label products for a few well-known National Brand companies which keeps our bakery busy all year.
With the desire to connect directly with the local people who buy our products, we added another layer to our business and opened a Farm Store in February of 2009. Located on the same property as our processing plant and bakery, we provide a unique learning experience for audiences of all ages. You can tour our facilities and even our berry fields in the summer months or simply swing by to shop in our store and enjoy a fresh baked slice of pie a la mode. Our retail bakery menu offers up fresh baked goods daily, coffee, smoothies, milkshakes, ice cream and even a few breakfast and lunch options. In addition, we have a list of family-friendly events and activities lined up from u-pick (PYO) berries and outdoor movie showings. In the spring of 2010 we added a new playground and yard for outdoor recreation.
For nearly a century, we have been blessed to be able to farm land in the Willamette Valley and it is truly our mission to be able to deliver you ‘the best from our land to your hands.’
A Note About Fundraisers
The PTA recognizes that the pie sale fundraiser does not appeal to all members of our community. We are working to provide different types of fundraisers throughout the school year that are accessible and engaging for our community. The PTA’s primary goal is to create community, with the secondary goal of fundraising to support those community engagement efforts.
The intent behind the PTA’s fundraising efforts is for families to give when they can, what they can, how they want to give it. The PTA has made a conscious decision to engage in fundraising in a low-pressure , low visibility manner, so that families who choose not to or are unable to participate are not distinguishable from those who do participate.
The PTA also solicits direct donations of any amount to support the Community Resilience Fund.