A pie in the face for a good cause
JJ Murphy presses a pie Steve Valerio’s face as Dorothy West-McDonald watches. Photos by Abby Van Selous
Dorothy West-McDonald pies Steve Valerio.
After shoving a pie into his dad’s face, Ben Robbins and Steve Robbins share a laugh.
Kids line-up to pie the officers as Jayson Perez pushes a pie into teacher Courtney Secher’s face. 
Oliver Hayes chooses to pie Kevin Nardi.
Adeline Nardi presses a pie into her dad’s face.
Whipped cream goes flying as Maddilyn Morse pies Steve Valerio.
From the left, Kevin Nardi, Steve Robbins, Brian Wiksten, Steve Valerio and Courtney Secher.
Heidi Bradbury pies Steve Robbins.
Brian Wiksten looks to see if more pies are coming his way.
JJ Murphy presses a pie Steve Valerio’s face as Dorothy West-McDonald watches. Photos by Abby Van Selous
Dorothy West-McDonald pies Steve Valerio.
After shoving a pie into his dad’s face, Ben Robbins and Steve Robbins share a laugh.
Kids line-up to pie the officers as Jayson Perez pushes a pie into teacher Courtney Secher’s face.
Oliver Hayes chooses to pie Kevin Nardi.
Adeline Nardi presses a pie into her dad’s face.
Whipped cream goes flying as Maddilyn Morse pies Steve Valerio.
From the left, Kevin Nardi, Steve Robbins, Brian Wiksten, Steve Valerio and Courtney Secher.
Heidi Bradbury pies Steve Robbins.
Brian Wiksten looks to see if more pies are coming his way.
MIDDLEBORO — Dressed as 100-year-olds and wearing headbands that said “100 days of school,” kindergarteners at the Memorial Early Childhood Center pied the faces of four police officers and an educator on Thursday, Feb. 13.
For six days, kids brought in money to fill a container in their classrooms as part of the school’s “change wars” fundraiser, ultimately competing to raise the most for a chance to throw a whipped cream-pie in the school resource officer’s face and “some buddies” he gathered together, said PTA President Treasure Gonzalez.
“They’re excited because they’re so tiny, and they see the [school resource officers] around the building constantly, and they’re these big, hulking men who walk around, and they’re like, ‘I get to pie him,’” Gonzalez said.
She added that there were “a few kiddos who said, ‘I don’t want to pie the police. I’m afraid I’m going to get arrested.”
The pie-throwing event marked the conclusion of the “change wars,” during which students and their families raised $10,756.
After raising $5,600 the first year of the fundraiser and $7,400 in the second, this is the largest amount raised in the change war’s history, Gonzalez said.
“They blew us away this year,” she said.
While some of the funds come from kids bringing money into their class, family members were also able to write-out checks to contribute to the fundraiser.
And while the fundraiser has ended, Gonzalez said she still has money coming in every time she checks the PTA mailbox.
“Right now, there’s a little baggy of about 76 cents that someone brought in that I will go and deposit into our bank account,” she said.
The money raised will go toward field trips, enrichment, school T-shirts and Field Day supplies.
“It goes toward everything that goes directly toward the students,” Gonzalez said.
This year the event served not only as a celebration recognizing the successful fundraiser but as a way to show the kids having a police presence in the school isn’t a bad thing, she said.
“That doesn’t mean something bad is happening, that there’s something scary happening,” Gonzalez said. “They’re your friends.”
She added it also “really helps lessen that anxiety too about having police officers in your school.”
While only students in one class pied the officers directly, Gonzalez said they were all involved in some way.
“They all are pieing someone in one way or another, whether it be physically doing it or cheering on their teacher,” she said. “So everyone gets to participate.”
Adeline Nardi, 5, got to throw a pie in her dad’s face, who was one of the officers at the event, and said it was “fun.”
As for Brista Mills, 5, who was also in the winning class, she said pieing an officer was “super fun” and she “just knew” she wanted to pie officer Wiksten.
“It’s fun — it’s loud — but it’s fun and every kid enjoys it,” Gonzalez said.
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