To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, Rose McGee, owner of Sweet Potato Comfort Pies, and Bonnie Alton, owner of Great Harvest Bread Company in St. Paul, joined together to recruit volunteers to help bake and deliver 46 sweet potato pies to George Floyd Square, as George Floyd was 46 when he died. They then decided to make additional pies to give to families in YWCA St. Paul’s transitional housing program and to Ujamaa Place, an organization that provides holistic transformation for young African-American men experiencing inequity at the intersection of race and poverty.
Rose McGee is no stranger to donating her sweet potato pies. After Michael Brown’s death and the ensuing protests in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, she decided to bake and deliver sweet potato pies to Ferguson. That began her foray into BAKETIVISM – using the process of baking, sharing, talking and reflecting to create change in our world.
Bonnie Alton regularly works to improve and give back to the community. She made her Great Harvest kitchen and her staff available to bake the pies. She also recruited and organized volunteers and donated and calculated all of the ingredients for the pies, except for the yams. Mississippi Market generously contributed 200 pounds of organic garnet yams for the pies.
We thank all of those who helped in this effort to make our community sweeter – one pie at a time.
