Dozens of people braved a wintry mix Tuesday evening for the eighth annual Thanksgiving “Slice for Life” pie auction at St. Luke’s Church in Clearwater.

 

The event was a fundraiser   benefitting the Pregnancy Resource Center in St. Cloud.

 

The clinic offers free pregnancy testing, free STD testing, HIV screening, pelvic exams and PAP tests and resource referrals.

 

Tuesday, attendees at the pie auction had an opportunity to bid on 87 tasty pies that were baked and donated by community residents and members from different church congregations of all denominations.

 

Auctioneer Fred Walz, who has donated his services since the first auction, kept the action moving along, encouraging bidders to dig deep for a good cause. 

 

It worked.

 

Tuesday’s crowd kept bidding the prices up, and by the end of the evening, the event had raised $9,665 more than $2,000 higher than a year before.

 

The highest price paid for a pie was $330 for a caramel pecan pie.

 

There was also a best pie contest, where before the auction began, judges selected their top three favorites based on appearance, taste and uniqueness.

 

The winner Tuesday was a Snickers caramel apple pie baked by Stacy Mol. She’ll take home a travelling trophy that she’ll get to keep for a year until next year’s auction when a new winner is selected.

 

There was a tie for second place between a fresh raspberry cream cheese baked by Jane Ergen and a banana pecan cream pie baked by Kathy Williams.

 

There were also prizes donated by local businesses. Attendees could purchase a balloon with a number attached. Each number corresponded to a prize.

 

The pie auction started eight years ago at the suggestion of Marilyn and John Lee of Clearwater. 

 

The Lees had visited their daughter and son-in-law in Alaska and learned the pregnancy center there was holding a pie auction to raise money. 

 

The event in Clearwater raised a little over $4,000 the first year and has grown in subsequent years. The record amount raised was $10,250 in 2014.