Eat pie, end poverty

Using pies to fight hunger might seem an unusual approach, but for Nancy Brashear, who owns Enzo’s in OTR, it seemed like a fitting way to support the work of her friend and Cincinnati neighbor, Gaby Blocher.
 
Blocher serves as the Director of Monitoring & Evaluation for Nuru International, a nonprofit that works with community members around the world to build sustainable leadership and enact proven programs to combat poverty.

To raise awareness of Nuru, and to support its efforts, Brashear offered to host the first annual “Eat Pie. End Poverty” event Oct. 28 at Enzo’s.
 
The event includes Enzo’s first pop-up pie stand, which will feature several varieties of sweet and savory pies. All proceeds benefit Nuru. “We’re trying to tie it into Final Friday so people can get pie and then go party,” Brashear says. While Enzo’s will supply fruit and pumpkin pies, she hopes the community will pitch in and donate additional pies for the cause.
 
“We’re trying to get 100 pies,” she says. “At $20 a pie, that will equal $2,000. It’s not a lot of money, but for Nuru it’s huge. They're not well-known and they don’t spend a lot of time publicizing their efforts.”
 
Nuru International seeks to help villages in Africa grow crops in a sustainable way, thereby helping families make a living.
 
“They're able to help themselves when Nuru leaves,” Brashear says.
 
She learned of the international effort through Blocher, who helps Nuru manage interns and fulltime staff in Kenya, California and other cities from her downtown apartment. Now a management consultant, Blocher earned her degree in Oceanography from the U.S. Naval Academy and worked as a logistics officer and officer recruiter for the U.S. Marines for five years. She also earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Do Good:

• Eat some pie. Visit the pop-up pie shop Enzo’s Over The Rhine, 1106 Race Street, Oct. 28, from  6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
 
• Make a pie. Enzo’s needs sweet and savory pies to sell at the stand. Contact Enzo’s directly at 513-579-1106 to get more info on how to donate.

• Volunteer for Nuru. Learn more about the nonprofit’s efforts to end poverty.

By Ryan McLendon