How the ultimate comfort food helps cure cancer

Seven years ago, sisters Sharon Wieder and Adeena Sussman decided they would bake Thanksgiving desserts to raise funds in memory of their mother. Stephanie Sussman succumbed to ovarian cancer at age 63. Their grandmother, Ann Nadrich, died from the same disease three years later.

“Sometimes, there are no words that can address, or provide comfort, in times of grief,” Sussman told The Times of Israel. “Sometimes just doing something is the only way to shift grief and replace it with something else. I think that’s part of the reason we do this.”

Since then, the sisters have pivoted the project from two sales to 19 events across the United States, and in Toronto, Canada. Operating from east to west and many points in between, the Pies For Prevention Thanksgiving Bake supports the Stephanie Sussman and Ann Nadrich Memorial Jewel and Jewish breast cancer organization Sharsheret’s Ovarian Cancer Program.

Rochelle Shoretz was the founder and executive director of Sharsheret. (Courtesy of Sharsheret/ via JTA)

This year, the sale also memorializes Sharsheret’s late founder, Rochelle Shoretz, a former Law Clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Shoretz died earlier this year from complications of metastatic breast cancer. She launched the organization when she recognized the need for a breast cancer organization sensitive to the cultural needs of young Jewish women and families after her own diagnosis at age 28.

In the first year of the sisters’ charity bake sale, the project raised $16,000. The next? $25,000. In 2011, it spread nationally, to Palo Alto, California, where the sisters grew up, as well as Atlanta, Georgia, and elsewhere. Pies are now available in Boca Raton, Florida, New Canaan, Connecticut, St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington, D.C. and other cities.

From 2012 to 2014 sales totaled more than 3,000 pies, with bakers, most of whom operate kosher kitchens, providing the cost of materials and forwarding all proceeds to Sharsharet (chain or necklace in Hebrew). All orders, as well as additional donations to Sharsharet and contributions to sponsor bakers by offsetting their costs, must be placed by November 20 at Sharsheret.org.

Sussman, whose work meets at the intersection of keyboard and cutting board as a cookbook co-author, recipe developer and food writer, says the project “combines so many things I hold dear — my mother’s memory, baking, feeding others, and spending time with my amazing sister. We’ve been pretty close all of our adult lives, but the experience of losing your mother prematurely brought us even closer together.”

Sister Sharon Weider is a breast cancer survivor. “My family, friends and Sharsheret were there for me and my family throughout this process,” says Weider. Three months after Wieder’s surgery, her mother died. And three years later, her grandmother.

“The obvious choice when trying to find a way to honor their memories was Sharsheret, which, seven years ago when we came up with the idea for the bake sale, was just beginning their ovarian cancer support programming,” says Weider.

Pies for Prevention co-founder Adeena Sussman (courtesy)

The team starts prepping early fall.

“The pie sale is always in the backs of our minds; but in truth every year it’s a mad dash right after Labor Day all the way through the Jewish holidays up to Thanksgiving,” says Sussman, who lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

The project’s ranks of volunteers have grown through word of mouth, among friends and via the Sharsheret newsletter.

“It’s a completely self-selecting group of women and one man,” Sussman says, “who feel a burning desire to bake until their arms are covered in burn marks and they never want to see another mixing bowl ever again.”

That one man is JJ Wernick of Los Angeles, who knew the sisters growing up in Bnai Akiva. Prior to working in finance, he had contemplated a culinary career. For him, the pie project “combines my passion for cooking and my responsibility to make the world a better place,” says Wernick, an active member of the West LA Jewish community who lost both his parents to cancer.

“My parents and grandparents were active in the Orthodox community and raised me with a sense that it is our duty to give our time and resources to charitable causes. My wife shares those values,” says Wernick.

A family affair, Wernick bakes with the help of his wife of 20 years and his children, and sometimes a local community member, such as journalist Julie Fax.

Jonathan JJ Wernick and his wife Rachael and Julie Fax (center) volunteer to bake for Pies for Prevention. (courtesy)

“My Mom was a terrible cook, but was incredibly hospitable,” says Wernick, a financial consultant who once considered a culinary career. “I wanted to follow her hospitality side… My mom always said food is only as good as the company. My wife and daughter love to cook as a means of bringing family and friends together.”

But baking more than 35 pies is “no easy feat,” Wernick says. Last year, he began testing recipes and pie pans in early October. A local kosher grocer discounted ingredients and a financial client, whose company distributes produce, donated apples.

“I also researched tools to make the process more efficient,” Wernick says. “The best tool I bought was a crank device that spiral cut the apples and peeled them as well.”

While most volunteer bakers offer pecan pies, banana bread and other desserts, Wernick’s favorite is the classic Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

“I like melding of the spice flavors and the velvety pudding texture that the pumpkin provides,” he says.

Sussman provided her pumpkin recipe for TOI readers.

Like any successful campaign, the project continues “to grow and inspire us and others in an endless circle,” Sussman says. “I lost a friend, Rana Samuels, to ovarian cancer last year. She left behind four kids and a husband and she was barely 40 years old. Two others are battling it right now. If only pies could cure this sucker.”

Adeena & Sharon’s Pumpkin Pie

(makes 1 pie)

You’ll go out of your gourd for this pumpkin pie recipe (Courtesy Wiki Commons)

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
one 15-oz. can solid-pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
¾ cup non-dairy whipped topping (such as Rich’s), defrosted, or heavy cream
1 prepared 9-inch, unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Whisk together all of the ingredients and pour them into the pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until outside is set and center is almost completely set.
Remove from oven and cool completely.