The outpour of support for the Emmanuel AME community following the shooting that claimed the lives of nine members of its congregation serve as a reminder of the capacity for human compassion. A baker named Rose McGee has lent her services to the community the best way she knows how: comfort pies.
"I've been making sweet potato pies for years, and I just decided 'I'm going to take some comfort pies out on the road and just share,'" McGee tells WLXT News. Recognizing that her pies could offer a sense of solace, McGee delivered a mass order of pies to the Emmanuel AME Church, each enclosed with a heartfelt letter of support.
In a TEDxTalk she delivered back in 2011, McGee addresses the power of healing that's baked into every single pie she makes.
"I just wanted to somehow express love," she says.
And her gesture was more than just warmly received. Presiding Elder Norvell Goff tells WLXT that "[t]he nourishment by the pies is most helpful."
That same nourishment was mentioned by McGee in her TEDx speech. "Pie, to me, is an absolute delicious way of nurturing and fortifying the human spirit," she said. And as members of the Mother Emanuel community and beyond continue their process of healing, kind gestures like that of McGee's offer sources strength and empathy.
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