Everyone deserves a pie, especially you

We need this sweet gathering more than ever. I don’t know about you but I’m feeling powerless during this time of great national distress. Being an American has never been uncomplicated; right now, it’s especially trying.

I want that tingly feeling when the sun is warming my skin, my friends and family are about, and there’s hope in the air. I feel that way at Pie for the People. If you haven’t been, I can nearly guarantee you will feel a special sense of peace during our little event.

And it’s on! May 18th. You know the drill: ‘We’ll see you there from 1 to 3 / savory or way too sweet / it’s Pieeee / for the People.’

Benefiting the Homeless Garden Project

The Homeless Garden Project (HGP) has hosted us for 8+ years. Oh, how we love them! While the country debates how to help unhoused folks, HGP is doing something.

About HGP

Now in its 35th year, HGP runs several programs including a transitional employment program for people experiencing homelessness to help them obtain stable jobs and housing. That work occurs in the workshop, retail stores, and their organic farm on Santa Cruz’s West Side.

The farm has served as the host site for Pie for the People gatherings since they were first selected as a beneficiary 8 years ago. We’re excited to celebrate HGP this Spring!

When & Where!

When: Sunday, May 18th from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Homeless Garden Project Farm in Santa Cruz (Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave)
RSVP: tinyurl.com/PieSpring2025
Have time to help? Sign-up to volunteer

Please bring:

  • Your community
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie*
  • $5+ donation per person (or more!) to benefit Center for Farmworker Families

*If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra donation.

In Pie and Peace,

Cori and Gwen Wolfland, on behalf of the whole Pie crew (Benito, David, Huckleberry, and Karl)

It’s Pie, It’s People, and It’s On – 9/29/2024

We are thrilled to announce that our next community pie potluck will benefit the Digital NEST.

With HQ in Watsonville, Digital NEST creates sustainable and scalable technology learning centers for Latinx youth in order to foster economic equality. They achieve this by teaching technical and soft skills, providing mentors and broadening networks in order to gain sustainable employment.

Since 2014, Digital NEST has served >3,000 teens and young adults with free technology, a safe creative collaborative space, workforce skills training, mentors, inspiration and opportunities to soar. 87% are Latinx.

When: Sunday, September 29th from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Homeless Garden Project Farm in Santa Cruz (Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave)
Please bring:

  • The whole family
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie*
  • $5+ donation per person (or more!) to benefit Santa Cruz Welcoming Network

*If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra donation.

We need your help:

Yours in Pie and Community,

Cori, Gwen, Benito, and David

P.S. Can’t make it to our Fall 2024 potluck? You can donate directly to Digital NEST. Just mention Pie for the People in your notes. Thank you!

Benefit for Santa Cruz Welcoming Network

We are thrilled to announce that our next community pie potluck will benefit the Santa Cruz Welcoming Network. 

The Santa Cruz Welcoming Network is entirely volunteer-run and any funds they receive go directly to asylum seekers and refugees in Santa Cruz County. Folks started this initiative because there is no local refugee resettlement agency. Volunteers provide a range of support – from helping to secure housing to setting up medical appointments, English lessons, driving exams, assisting with cultural acclimation, getting children in schools, finding jobs, accessing legal representation, and much more.

When: Sunday, May 19th from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Homeless Garden Project Farm in Santa Cruz (Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave)
Please bring:

  • The whole family
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie*
  • $5+ donation per person (or more!) to benefit Santa Cruz Welcoming Network

*If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra donation.

Download & share fliers: SPANISH, ENGLISH

RSVP on Facebook

Pies for Community! Pies for Connection! Pies for Belonging! Pies for BLACK HEALTH MATTERS!

We are thrilled to announce that our next community pie potluck will benefit Santa Cruz County Black Health Matters Initiative!

SCCBHMI is a groundbreaking grassroots organization that emerged from a great need to support the 1-2% of Black residents in Santa Cruz County. They provide resources and programs to ensure individuals are connected to their culture, community, and health services. SCCBHMI values the dignity of each Black resident to not only survive, but thrive.

When: Sunday, September 17th from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Homeless Garden Project Farm in Santa Cruz (Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave)
Please bring:

  • The whole family
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie*
  • $5+ donation per person (or more!) to benefit Santa Cruz County Black Health Matters Initiative

*If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra donation.

Download & share fliers: SPANISH, ENGLISH

RSVP on Facebook

Pie for the families who feed us!

Oh Santa Cruz County…we’re soggy, battered, and a bit bruised, aren’t we? Let’s hope the sun is shining so we can join in community at the Homeless Garden Project, reconnect, and of course…eat pie!

This event will support the nonprofit organization Center for Farmworker Families, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education, advocacy, and support for farmworker families. They are currently helping the hardworking families of Pajaro who have not only lost homes from the recent flood but are facing extended unemployment because the fields they work in are either still underwater or severely damaged.

When: Sunday, April 30th from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Homeless Garden Project Farm in Santa Cruz (Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave)
Please bring:

  • The whole family
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie*
  • $5+ donation per person (or more!) to benefit Center for Farmworker Families

*If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra donation.

Download & share fliers: SPANISH, ENGLISH

RSVP on Facebook

Pie in the Garden!

Come join us in the Life Lab garden at the height of harvest to celebrate pie, community, and the joy of outdoor learning.

This fall 2022 Pie for the People will benefit the beloved garden-based education program Life Lab!

Donations from the day will help provide some much needed love and renewal to the 22-year-old outdoor classroom including fixing up the big Circle Bench and adding an elliptical tent for shade in the garden that is a hub of activity for field trips with more than 1,500 children each year and for teacher workshops for hundreds of educators annually. 

When: Sunday, October 2, 2022 from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Life Lab Garden at the UCSC Farm*

Please bring:

  • The whole family
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie**
  • $5+ donation per person to benefit Life Lab
  • Your own plate/fork/spoon/napkin/mug

*Note on transportation and parking. Bicycling, car pooling, ridesharing, and public transportation are encouraged as parking is limited. If you drive to the event, please plan to park in UCSC Lot #170 or Lot #116 (and walk to the farm). There will be directional signage to help you get to the correct parking lot and farm entrances. Download a parking map here. Please feel free to reach out to Nicole Albuquerque at Life Lab (nicole@lifelab.org) with any accessibility questions or needs.

**If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra donation.

Download & share fliers: SPANISH, ENGLISH

RSVP on Facebook

COVID safety

This event is outdoors. Volunteers serving pie will be vaccinated, boosted & masked. To protect our young children, elders & immunocompromised friends, we request that all attendees be vaccinated & boosted.

Pie is Back!

It’s been a long 2.5 years…

We’ve decided it’s high time (and safe) to meet in person again. Especially so we can support NAMI Santa Cruz County. NAMISCC offers practical experience, support, education, comfort, and understanding to anyone concerned about mental illnesses.

When: Sunday, May 22, 2022 from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Homeless Garden Project Farm in Santa Cruz (Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave)
Please bring:

  • The whole family
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie*
  • $5+ donation per person to benefit NAMI
  • Your own plate/fork/spoon/napkin/mug

*If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra donation.

Download & share fliers: SPANISH, ENGLISH

RSVP on Facebook

COVID safety

This event is outdoors. Volunteers serving pie will be vaccinated, boosted & masked. To protect our young children, elders & immunocompromised friends, we request that all attendees be vaccinated & boosted.

We stand for kindness.

In an extraordinary show of perseverance (battling Iron Man traffic) and generosity, we are so happy to announce that the Pie for the People Santa Cruz community raised $4,120 for RAICES on Sunday, September 8, 2019.

We will not stand silently by and watch as our neighbors, seeking refuge, are incarcerated. We as a community stand for love, kindness, and dignity. (And we really love pie.)

Thank you to Santa Cruz Indivisible, Temple Beth El, Aptos, Your Allied Rapid Response & Jessica Delgado for sharing ways to take action.

Thank you to all who gave so generously in donations and spirit.

(Thank you to Lucien Kubo for this beautiful photo.)

Never Again is Now. – Pie in support of refugees at the border

Historically, Pie for the People – Santa Cruz has focused on raising money for local nonprofits, but these are unprecedented times and we feel that it is necessary for us to each do what we can to end human concentration camps and protest the inhumane conditions faced by migrants and refugees on our country’s southern border.

At Pie for the People – Santa Cruz we join in community, eat pie and raise money! 

Please join us in light, love, and PIE (and tamales too!) to raise money for RAICES – The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. RAICES is the leading organization helping separated families, detained families, unaccompanied minors, and others who are seeking asylum in the United States. 

We’ll also be joined by groups including Santa Cruz Indivisible, Your Allied Rapid Response, Temple Beth El to join the community conversation and share actions we can take locally to step up and protect our neighbors. 

When: Sunday, September 8, 2019 from 1 – 3 pm
Where: Homeless Garden Project Farm in Santa Cruz (Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave)
Please bring:

  • The whole family
  • A sweet or savory vegetarian pie*
  • $5+ donation per person to benefit RAICES + extra $ for tamales
  • Your own plate/fork/spoon/napkin/mug

*If baking isn’t your thing, don’t worry! Come & just bring an extra buck or two.

Download & share fliers: SPANISH, ENGLISH

RSVP on Facebook


We ate pie & built community + SAVE THE DATE

It was a beautiful spring afternoon on April 28 at the Homeless Garden Project farm. The purple iris were in full bloom and so was the generosity in people’s hearts. Together we raised $1,433 for TransFamilies!

Thank you for showing up with your offerings, donations, and appetites!

Save the date for Sunday, September 8 for our next Pie for the People – Santa Cruz event! More details to come.