Where It All Began

The story of Pie in the Sky and the people who shaped our mission

A Beginning Rooted in Community Need
Pie in the Sky’s story starts long before the first pie was ever baked.

In 2006, I was sent to Hastings by the Betty Griffin House to open a rural services center for Hastings and the surrounding communities of Elkton, Spuds, Armstrong, and Flagler Estates. I arrived optimistic—how hard could it be?—and quickly learned the answer: very hard.
Talking about domestic violence in a rural community as an outsider didn’t exactly open doors. But with persistence, creativity, and a lot of walking, listening, and showing up, the program began to take hold. Our first march during Domestic Violence Awareness Month drew 25 people. By April 2009, more than 125 people marched with us from the
railroad tracks to the Hastings library. The program had turned a corner, becoming the most successful rural center out of 19 across the state. And then, one month later, it was defunded—reasons still unknown.

Uncovering a Hidden Crisis
During those years, I met Jewel and Roosevelt, two African-American men whose story revealed a reality I never imagined existed just 17 miles from St. Augustine: modern-day slavery. Not the version most people picture. Not hidden in shadows. Not unknown to authorities. For decades, Hastings’ agricultural economy relied on farmworkers—German POWs during WWII, immigrants, and for the last fifty years, African-American men and women born right here in the U.S. Many were recruited from homeless shelters with promises of good pay and comfortable housing. Once in the van, those promises disappeared. They were taken to isolated labor camps. Charged for food, water, and even the use of a broken bathroom. Loaned money at 100% interest. Beaten, threatened, degraded, and trapped. Local and federal agencies knew.
Little was done. This was the backdrop against which Pie in the Sky was born.
(https://ciw-online.org/blog/2010/04/a_brief_history_of_evil/)

through the years

A Little Pie Shop With a Big Purpose
Pie in the Sky began in the summer of 2009 as a tiny pie shop on Main Street in Hastings. The community was struggling—poverty, injustice, and a long list of unmet needs. We baked pies to raise money, operating on an annual budget of about $2,000 in those early years. But Pie in the Sky was never just a pie shop. We were a “boots on the ground” organization from day one:

Baking pies to raise funds
Building wheelchair ramps
Driving farmworkers to medical appointments
Running a food pantry
Delivering food to homebound seniors
Helping enslaved farmworkers escape their abusers

We did the things no one else could—or would—do. We rallied the community with food drives, sock drives, and wheelchair ramp drives. We gave away literal tons of food. And that winding path eventually led us to the work we are known for today.

Where We Are Now

The Premier Senior Produce Program in St. Johns County
Today, Pie in the Sky is recognized as the leading program in St. Johns County for delivering fresh, nutritious food to low-income seniors who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Our small size is our strength. We adapt quickly to the changing needs of our seniors.

When inflation pushed food prices up more than 18%, we asked our seniors what they needed. Their answer: more produce. We delivered 50% more food.
When tomatoes tripled in price, the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund covered tomatoes for an entire year.
When eggs became unaffordable, a community-driven campaign funded a full year of eggs within days.

This community shows up. And our seniors feel that love every single week.

A Decade of Showing Up
Pie in the Sky has always been about one simple belief: No one should be forgotten.
From a tiny pie shop to a countywide senior produce program, our mission has remained the same—fill the cracks where people fall through, and do it with dignity, compassion, and community.

GOT FOOD? THANK A FARM WORKER.

pie in the sky