Hi, Hi Mr. American Pie: MANNA's Pie Man dishes on fundraiser

WHILE MANY tables across the Delaware Valley will have homemade pies on them this Thanksgiving, many others will have pies that help make homes better, courtesy of MANNA's annual Pie in the Sky fundraiser.

This is the 18th year that MANNA, the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance, has sold pies to help raise money to deliver nutritious meals to those suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Last year, the organization, which services about 800 clients, provided nutritious meals to those suffering from 67 illnesses, with the main three being cancer, HIV/AIDS and renal failure.

While the official last day of pie sales was yesterday, word is that the sales usually get extended through the end of this weekend. Those interested in purchasing a MANNA pie should go to Mannapies.org.

The man currently overseeing MANNA's Pie in the Sky fundraiser is Dan Getman, 31, the organization's development and communications manager. Stephanie Farr talked with Getman about Pie Man, what it takes to be a good pie salesman and what gets him choked up (and no, it's not the pies).

Q Do you ever have pie fights at MANNA?

The short answer is of course not, our pies are too good to waste. We have some fun with them, but we don't throw them in each other's faces, especially because they're frozen. We pose with the pies, we go out and do tasting events and we have a Pie Man costume. We try to have some fun but usually that involves eating the pies.

Q Tell me about the Pie Man suit. What's its purpose?

Every great organization has a mascot. I'm not sure exactly how long ago it happened but at one point we decided graphics and boards weren't enough. Pie Man was born. The costume is a foam pie slice that fits over your body and a crown that represents the four-and-20 blackbirds nursery rhyme.

Q What is the key to being a good pie salesman?

It's really two things: One, you have to be willing to ask folks over and over again, you have to be a little pushy. And two, in order to be a good salesperson, you have to believe in the MANNA mission.

Q How important is this event to the continued success of MANNA?

It allows us to provide a great service to our clients. Every pie that's sold helps to sponsor a Thanksgiving meal for a family of four. The idea is we're empowering them to bring folks into their house. Year round, somebody is taking care of our clients, whether it's medical staff or family, and this is a chance for them to really have someone there and host them and have a good time.

Q How long does it take to prepare all the Thanksgiving meals that are to be delivered?

We plan on delivering 1,800 Thanksgiving meals and we make them all that day. Our kitchen staff is in here around 3:30 a.m. and the kitchen officially opens for volunteers about 5:30 a.m. Every client who wishes to receive the Thanksgiving meal gets the full dinner, everything from the turkey to all the trimmings you could imagine. Each household gets a bag of hot food and a bag of cold food too. Every client who gets a Thanksgiving dinner also gets one of the pies.

Q What's the most memorable interaction you've had with someone during your time at MANNA?

I oversee our individual giving program here, and one of the aspects of my job is to oversee the mailings we do to the general public when we're asking for donations.

I had the good fortune in the course of that to meet a client named Liz who was suffering from brain cancer. She was very gracious in doing an interview for us that we then used for one of our mailings. She was the absolute nicest woman. She was someone who believed so much in our program that even though she was going through treatment two or three times a week, she'd still volunteer in our kitchen and then contributed through donations.

What really touched me the most, aside from how nice she was, is that when she passed she asked people to make donations to MANNA in her memory. So when she was gone she still had an impact on this organization.

To have to use our services is a tough situation for anybody but to understand how important they are and to give back in the midst of what she was going through, I thought she was a really special person. She passed recently, within the last month. When I saw the first donation in her memory, I got a little choked up.