In Minnesota, a woman named Rose McGee prepared sweet potato pies by hand to bring them all the way to Charleston.
Rose McGee and her helpers baked 86 pies in an underground Church basement over many days, in anticipation of delivering them just in time for Bible study 1,300 miles away to Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
"This is for you," McGee said while handing out pies. "You're getting money, you're getting visitors and all this, but I said 'they ain't getting any sweet potato pie,'"
This comforting gesture to the Church comes weeks after a gunman took the lives of 9 members including the pastor.
"I just wanted to somehow express love," she said.
McGee is popular in her area for the sweet potato pie recipe baked by her company Deep Roots Gourmet Desserts, which will now be carried to the South, however not for business this time.
"I've been making sweet potato pies for years and I just decided to take some comfort pies on the road," she quipped.
McGee also distributes pies in Minnesota during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. However, she lovingly decided to make another batch just for Mother Emanuel after the tragic shooting incidence of June 17.
More than the taste, the congregants were thankful for the love and sacrifice that went into making the pies, and the fact that McGee chose to travel thousands of miles just to personally deliver little slices of comfort to the Charleston congregation.
Some 20 volunteers helped the "Pie Lady" to bake 86 sweet potato pies, out of which 56 were brought by McGee to the church for Bible study students and were served at 6 pm. About 240 pounds of sweet potatoes were used for baking the pies, said McGee.
Interim pastor at Mother Emanuel, Reverend Norvel Goff Sr., welcomed McGee and her helper who baked the pies into Bible study.
"I want to say "Thank you,' and I guess get a hug from both of you for the pies!" Goff gleefuly said, according to News 2.
McGee's daughter also wrote a poem each for one pie, further expressing her love and desire to comfort the congregants.
"So today be blessed, remember to eat, pray, and love as you partake in making a difference for there is much to be proud of," said McGee. "Enjoy!"
In response to the compliments, McGee said "One lady who works right here at the church all she said to me was, "Mmm, mmm, mmm!' That to me was the best compliment that I could've gotten."
McGee inherited the recipe passed down from her grandmother and great-grandmother. Though known for her pies through her company, she testified of healing powers of pie when she baked pies for families in Ferguson, Missouri in the midst of steaming racial tensions following Michael Brown's death.
"When we listen to others share their stories, we can see the commonality," she said. "What better way to do that than sweet potato pie, or it could be rhubarb pie, or chocolate pie or whatever, as long as we get to some mode of action and movement. I hope that that they feel the love."
