ORLANDO, Fla. — You can’t have Thanksgiving dinner without dessert, right? The annual Salvation Army Thanksgiving Day meal in Orlando will have hundreds of fruit pies, and it is all thanks to efforts led by this week’s Everyday Hero. Valencia College Chef and instructor Elisa Brewer is going above and beyond leading a team to bake pies giving back to the community in a big way.

What You Need To Know

  • Chef Elisa Brewer has been baking the pies for the Salvation Army Thanksgiving feast for the last three years

  • Volunteers bake more than 500 pies. The effort is made possible thanks to The Village Pie Maker donating about $15,000 worth of fruit pies

  • For Chef Elisa and her students, they enjoy helping people in the community and look forward to baking the pies each year

The fruit pies will soon find their way to a special family in need of a home cooked Thanksgiving meal put on by the Salvation Army in Orlando. The team bakes more than 500 pies in one day.

Brewer is the manager of the culinary lab at Valencia College, the creative village that is leading the effort.

“For the sheer amount of pies for this many people, we have to pre-bake all of the pies, re-wrap, then freeze them and then the day before we send them over in pallets so that they can defrost and be served the day of,” Brewer said.

Brewer has been helping prepare the pies for the last three years and this year she says isn’t much different. The small but mighty volunteer group are all eager to give back to the community anyway they can. 

“It is really great for us to partner with our creative villages area community businesses and services we are here in the Parramore Community, and we do see a lot of opportunities to serve,” Brewer said.

Brewer says it takes about eight hours to make all the pies. Once they cool down, the team starts start wrapping the pies and boxing. Next, it is on to freezing the pies until they are ready to serve.

She says they had lots of help from a generous donor, the "Village Pie Maker,” donating about $15,000 worth of fruit pies that volunteers are baking at the Valencia College culinary lab. 

Michelle Denardi Tamburis is a student volunteering with the group. She’s happy to help pitching in learning from Brewer who has taught her so much over the last year. 

“This is great because it’s an opportunity to volunteer at Valencia College and give back to the community for everything we received,” Tamburis said.

Giving back is what makes this so special to Brewer, couple that with working alongside her students she says is a win-win. 

“To be a mentor in the industry and to watch them serve it brings me joy to see that, so instilling service in our students is our priority,” Brewer said.

It is a priority that goes a long way helping people have a fulfilling Thanksgiving meal.

If you know of an Everyday Hero, click here to nominate them.