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What began as a challenge from fifth grade students at Garfield Elementary, became a full-blown, guy versus girl, pie-in-your face competition between two of United Way’s strongest advocates, Pamela Ballard and Stan Brownlee.
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“As most everyone knows, Stan Brownlee has been a classroom mentor for years,” said Ballard. “Early in the school year I was at Garfield Elementary with Stan when one of the students asked me about my hobbies. I told them I liked to bake pies and had won a blue ribbon at the county fair. At that point, Stan said he also baked and believed he was the better baker. The students said we should have a contest and they volunteered to be the judges--with the condition the loser would get a pie in the face,” continued Ballard. The “Dough to Dough” competition was born!
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The competition took place during United Way of Enid & Northwest Oklahoma’s Annual Meeting and Award’s Luncheon on April 29, 2015, in the Hiland Grand Ballroom. Three students from Garfield were the official judges.
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All desserts for the event were handmade by Brownlee and Ballard. Table sponsors chose the dessert for their table. The choices were: Brownlee’s cherry pie, his “knock-your-socks-off” apricot cream pie, and his peach cobbler. Ballard offered her award-winning coconut cream pie, a three-layer carrot cake, and her fresh apple-pecan cake with caramel sauce. For judging, both Brownlee and Ballard made cherry pies.
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After devouring both pies, the student judges wrote their favorite choice on a piece of paper. Retiring President of the Board, Alan Clepper, read the winner and announce it as Brownlee. As Brownlee celebrated, Clepper revealed he had only been kidding, Ballard had actually won the contest.
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After a closest number picking contest, one student was selected to place the pie in Brownlee's face. Bronlee dawned his OSU jacket and took the pie in the face in stride.
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The annual meeting also saw Alan Clepper step down as President of the Board and hand the gavel over to Fire Inspector Ken Helms. There was also a surprise announcement that Enid Public Schools was to chair the 2015-2016 annual fundraising campaign. The Enid High Band, Cheerleaders and Pom Squad filed into the back of the ballroom and helped celebrate the announcement.
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Several community members were honored for their contributions to the Enid United Way and Kelvin Classen, owner of KC Electric, was honored as the 2015 Dick Lambertz Memorial Award winner. The award was accepted by Classen's son who said his father was honored to receive the award.
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Most recently, United Way was a catalyst for the start-up of the Carver Early Childhood Center, and in coordinating the community Day of Kindness. United Way’s scope of work continues to broaden as they assist in efforts to expand classroom mentoring programs, bring financial literacy programs to underserved populations, and help with non-English speaking populations.
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Brownlee Loses Pie Contest
