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Moravia Moravian Church members have been arriving bright and early at the church one day a month for 15 years.
Well, at least early.

The day gets brighter after they spend several hours finishing their task — making chicken pies.

Normally, the group of about 15 church members makes about 160 pies one day each month. Production is increased for special occasions.

Saturday, Oct. 24, is one of those special occasions — the annual Women’s Fellowship Bazaar at the church, 2920 Oak Ridge Road. There will be 500 chicken pies for sale at $8 each.

The bazaar is from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There also will be other items for sale, including the ever-popular Moravian stars that are displayed during the Christmas season. Naturally, Moravian cookies and sugar cakes will be available. Assorted crafts, coffee, Christmas ornaments, baked goods and Brunswick stew will be for sale.

Breakfast will be served, and chicken and dumplings will be on the lunch menu.

Revenue from the bazaar goes to help finance church projects. One of those projects is obvious — that modern fellowship building. Chicken pie sales produced most of the revenue to pay for the new fellowship hall in 2003. It’s an outstanding facility for any church, especially for a church that averages about 50 people in weekly worship.

A few men chip in and help with the project, said Gail Daniel, one of the youngsters in the group. Excluding her daughter, Valerie Daniel, 33, Gail Daniel, 60, is the youngest of the pie-makers. “About 10 of these ladies have been making pies for years for the church,” she said. “Some have lived in the community since birth and some have lived here for 30 years or so. They are adorable.

“It has been my privilege to work with these women making pies. I value the lessons on life I have gleaned from those outstanding ladies,” Daniel said.

“I love doing this,” said Valerie Daniel.

At 93, Roy Lee is the eldest of the group. He and his brother John are essential in packaging the pies. They make sure baking directions accompany each pie.

That’s an important part of the production. A chicken pie without baking directions could result in a catastrophe.

Leader of the chicken pie makers is Peggy Wilson, 75, a Moravia member for 57 years. No votes were cast to make her the leader. It was easy to figure that she’s a natural leader and organizer. And volunteers like her aren’t easy to come by.

Wilson explained the pie-making process on a recent morning when the crew gathered. She said she and her husband, James Wilson, go to Winston-Salem and buy the chicken the day before pies are to be made.

“The day before we make pies, the dough is prepared and put in the freezer,” she said. All ingredients are in the kitchen when workers start arriving at 6 a.m. on pie-making day.

“The chicken is washed and put on to cook,” she said. That’s where Gail Daniel’s husband, Bill, can be found going among 10 pots, stirring the chicken on the gas stove.

On the day, five to six women work together rolling dough for the bottom and top crusts for the pies. When the chicken is finally cooked, another group starts pulling apart the chicken.

“Meanwhile, we are making the broth, and we make sure that it is thick enough. We put two cups of chicken in each pie and one cup of broth,” Wilson said. Usually, the same crew that rolled the dough places the ingredients into the pans.

Then, the top dough is put on the pies in assembly line fashion.
The baking directions are put on the lids that cover the pies, then the pies are placed in freezers until sale day.

Most mornings the crew makes 160 pies by about 10:30 a.m.

On this day, they work until noon because extra pies are being made for the bazaar. Another 300 pies were made earlier, so there will be enough to meet the anticipated demand on bazaar day.

“These are the best chicken pies that you can find anywhere,” Bill Daniel said. Nobody in the room is apt to disagree.

Gail Daniel said that there’s an extra ingredient that goes into pie-making day that may be even more important than all of the good stuff in those pies.

“The fellowship we have in getting together to do this is wonderful. That’s really important, I think,” she said.

Despite all the tasty ingredients in the pies, it appears that fellowship is the key ingredient that’s made the project successful.

Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com