Church bakers raise $100,000 to upgrade building

By Casey Reynolds

Contributing Writer

Lemon meringue? Apple? Cherry? Banana coconut cream?

Take your choice from the display on the counter in the Welcome Center kitchen at the Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church. Every Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon, a tempting array of homemade pies is lined up on the counter ready for the choosing.

There is no price tag, but a special jar sits at the end of the counter for your donation, whatever you choose to give. Outside on the patio are umbrella-protected tables where you can relax and enjoy your desert, with regular coffee or espresso, if you prefer.

The patio tables and every appliance and fixture in the Welcome Center kitchen, plus a total remodel of the center’s bathroom, were paid for by donations from the long line of Sunday morning pie lovers.

In the first six years the pies earned almost $100,000, all of which has been invested in upgrading church property.

This weekly pie ritual is the brainchild of Yoli (Yolanda) De Young, the chief baker, who buys her baking ingredients with her own money. She has been the inspiration for financing major remodeling in the Welcome Center (formerly the church sanctuary) and elsewhere on the church campus.

Using only money from the donation jar, she and local contractor Al Bregy spearheaded the design and building of the Welcome Center kitchen as well as carrying out a major upgrade of the church’s large main kitchen. This included new appliances and new flooring as well as new plates and serving pieces at a total cost of $40,000, all from the donations.

Also with De Young in charge, money is raised with an indoor “yard sale” every summer in the center. She heaps praise on all the people who have helped in these projects, from a team of gifted men and women bakers to yard-sale volunteers who devote hours to arranging and pricing donated goods for sale.

Ongoing proceeds from all these projects are being used to finance a major upgrade of the main meeting room of the Welcome Center.

Yoli and her husband, Burt DeYoung, moved to this area from the San Fernando Valley in 1997 and quickly chose SYV Presbyterian as their home church. Between them, they have seven grown children and 15 grandchildren, including 15-year-old Zack Hulschizer, a gifted young singer now attending a highly selective performing arts school in Las Vegas.

In describing her career, De Young proudly describes herself as having been a full time Professional Home Goddess.Now the official pie goddess of the church, she and her helpers are on hand each Sunday to welcome people from all over the valley to choose a piece of pie from the counter and enjoy it on the patio as long as weather permits. Whole pies can be picked up Sunday morning if ordered in advance by calling 1-805-708-0636.

The Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church is at the corner of Alamo Pintado Road and Baseline Avenue in Ballard.