Members of the Pyrohy Committee at work.
The Pyrohy Committee
A dozen or so volunteers at our parish sit down together in the basement kitchen on Wednesdays to make about 1,000 pyrohy (pierogi), or varenyky.
Pyrohy sales over the years have helped pay for a new roof and other repairs at the church.
According to our pastor Fr. Mykola Buryadnyk, “This is where we become community.”
He peeled about 50 pounds of potatoes, which he jokingly called “spiritual therapy,” for the pyrohy’s potato filling.
The tradition of volunteers making pyrohy together has been going on at our church for at least 40 years.
“My mother did this before me, while I was still working,” says Eleanor Goeters of Chicago. “She was doing it in the 1960s and ’70s.” The volunteer crews have changed over the years with the generations. “We’re just doing it for the church and for the camaraderie”
More Pyrohy.
After volunteers make the pyrohy with either potato or sauerkraut filling, the pyrohy are boiled, then cooled and frozen.
They’re sold by the dozen for $5 at the church office during office hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. For more information and dates for pyrohy making, please call the parish office at 773-625-4805. All are welcome to join!
A modified version of this article appeared in the March 29th, 2012 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times