We Spied Pie!

by Mary Alice Carnes, Community Relations Director

Congratulations Judges Favorite Award Winner – Madison Street Desserts and  their Meyer Lemon Meringue Pie

It was a fun and successful day at I Spy Pie!, our fun fall fundraiser, at Central Market. We rocked it with so many pie fans supporting Creative Action who purchased pie tasting cards that gave them a chance to sample 10 delicious pies presented by our five bakery participants: Tiny Pies, Texas Pie Kitchen, Central Market Cooking School, Central Market Bakery and Madison Street Desserts. Many thanks our wonderful MC Shana Merlin and to the fun music from Biscuit Brothers and Jungle Jill and the Jaybirds.

Thank you to our sponsors: Do512 Family, Central Market, H-E-B, Austin City Limits, Austin Family Fun, Fun, Fun Fest, Madison Street Desserts, Peace Through Pie, Texas Pie Kitchen Tiny Pies, Trace, and Trophyology.

Congratulations People’s Choice Award Winner – Tiny Pies and  Bourbon and their Buttermilk Chess pie

Pie judges (l-r) Jim Swift, Nina Seely, and John Bullington. Not pictured, Virginia B. Wood.

Big THANKS to all volunteers for making this a fun and smoothly-run event: Corinna  Archer, Pam Archer, Texas Tower PR, Racimony Hun, Lauren Luscombe, John Green, Karen Vinson, 4-H Capital, Austin Community College, ACE: A Community for Education, Austin Kiwanis Young Professionals, Bank of America, Chi Beta Delta, CMC eBiz, Dell | Global Communications, Diversys Learning, Dun & Bradstreet, East Avenue Lounge, Hire Priority Staffing, Longhorn Outreach, Texas Longhorn National Residence Hall Honorary, Real Role Models, St. Edward’s University, Stony Point High School, Sustainable Food Center, Tau Beta Pi, Texas Alpha Phi Omega, Texas Zephyrs, UT Austin, The Long Center, Tickled Ivories, Texas Longhorn Chapter- UT Austin, Westwood High School, Women in Medicine-UT Austin, Ann Graham, Susan Kirr, and Amy Averett, Carol Park Acurso, Alicia Santana and so many more wonderful individuals who made paper bag hats, served up pie, wrote pie poems, ran our parachute game and pie walk, painted faces, and made crafted kid-sized aprons. Thank you!

Ready to relive all the fun pie memories?
Check out our Facebook and Flickr albums. What was your favorite part of I Spy Pie!?

TAP at the ACC Big Read Closing Ceremony

For the second year in a row, Austin Community College united with local nonprofits to create innovative reading programs for the nation’s The Big Read. This year, Theatre Action Project partnered with the campus to wrap-up The Big Read in a closing ceremony that showcased student artwork, and hosted activities directly related to stories the children had read.
The Big Read is a national program that focuses on revitalizing the role of American Literature by partnering with educational foundations such as ACC. Big Read’s objective is to excite reluctant readers about literature, and encourage reading for pleasure as well as enlightenment. The program started on Oct. 11 in Austin and ended in early December.
The closing ceremony for this year’s Big Read, titled “The Courageous Spirit: Facing Injustice,” took place this past Saturday, Dec. 4 at ACC on Rio Grande.
At the event, TAP displayed student artwork from an in-class program, “Journey Into the Story,” based on a Julia Alvarez children’s book, “The Secret Footprints.”
TAP also hosted two activities that related this story. In the first activity, children made shell bracelets for themselves or loved ones. In the second activity, students were asked to peek into a treasure box that safely kept the “most beautiful treasure ever,” and then draw it.
“I noticed that my students have a renewed enthusiasm for stories read aloud,” said a Metz Elementary teacher whose class participated in the Big Read. “I loved seeing them connect with the text and truly understand the lesson learned.”