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For Palo Alto high schooler Tyler Wong, a long-running hobby has become a rewarding – and tasty – community service project. During the first summer of the pandemic, Tyler, an incoming freshman at the time, was inspired to use his passion for baking to benefit more than just the friends and family lucky enough to sample his pies, cookies and cakes over the years.
“I wanted to do something to help out the community, and I really wanted to incorporate something I liked doing, which was baking,” he recalled. An avid baker since sixth grade, he decided, with the encouragement of his mom, to sell some pies and donate the money to charity, reaching out via social media as well as school and neighborhood groups.
“He had lots of time to experiment,” his mother Angela Wong recalled. “He would stay up late baking in the middle of the night.”
Fast forward a few years and Tyler, now a senior at Palo Alto High School, has raised more than $13,000 for East Palo Alto’s Ecumenical Hunger Program (EHP), which supports local families and individuals struggling with food insecurity and other hardships.
Tyler said he chose EHP in particular because he’d already volunteered there with his Boy Scouts group, his church and his family.
“It was a place I was familiar with, somewhere I could help out people in need,” he said.
Along the way, Tyler has also collaborated with local businesses “to get more pies out there to more people,” as he put it, including the nonprofit Ada’s Cafe, the Market at Edgewood, which matched the pie proceeds, and Flea Street, with the support of owner Jesse Cool.
“What Tyler did was amazing. It was very generous and thoughtful for a teenager to take his valuable time and provide this support for EHP,” Lesia Preston, EHP’s executive director, told this news organization in an email. “We need more people like Tyler.”
While he enjoys and tries all kinds of baking, the Key lime pie, with its fresh-squeezed juice and graham cracker crust, has emerged as his signature dish.
Fellow Palo Altan Eva Dobrov first learned about Tyler’s pies and his charitable goals about three years ago, thanks to a friend’s Facebook post. Impressed that he had taken something many people started as a COVID-era hobby and turned it into something bigger to benefit the community, she placed an order.
“It’s an extension of learning to bake – doing it for good. I thought that was really cool,” she said. “I applaud his enthusiasm for it.”
After tasting that first pie, it wasn’t just his enthusiasm she was applauding.
“I was blown away; he did a really good job,” said Dobrov, who said she has very high Key lime pie standards and has since become a repeat customer.
“I’m from Florida – I grew up there – and I love a good Key lime pie,” she said of the Sunshine State favorite. “People outside of Florida do not usually make them very well. I’m very critical. Usually they’re too creamy, they’re not tart enough.” With some bakers, she explained, “it’s more of a custard. A true Key lime pie is more like a curd. You get the sweet and the creaminess but you also get the really nice, good flavor of the lime. A lot of times, they add too much sugar to it.” Tyler’s, though, is “really well-balanced,” she said.
Most recently, Dobrov ordered one of Tyler’s pies for her family Thanksgiving celebration, where it was the favorite among the traditional offerings like apple and pumpkin. She was especially excited to share it with her sister, since they share the same Florida roots. The verdict?
“She liked it a lot. She was impressed,” she said.
Tyler first got into baking after watching “Kids Baking Championship” and other similar programs as a middle schooler.
“That’s why I found a love for cooking and baking, then I acted on it,” he said. “I started baking pies and cakes and other desserts for my classmates at school, and I’d like to think they’re pretty lucky classmates.”
Tyler said he’s pretty much a self-taught chef. Baking, he said, is mostly “following directions and then adding your own spin to it, making adjustments as you see fit as you progress.” He was also humble about what makes his from-scratch baked goods special.
“It’s really everyone’s own taste,” he said. “I personally like my crust a little bit thicker on the sides…it’s really just your own preference.”
He estimated that it currently takes him about 14-18 hours, spread out over two days, to make a batch of about 50 pies.
His mom laughed when asked what it’s like at home during the days Tyler is baking for one of his large sales.
“It takes over the entire kitchen. It kind of takes over everything. We have to take stuff out of our freezer; we move everything around,” she said, adding that storing the pies can be a challenge (they have two refrigerators and sometimes also use a neighbor’s.)
While Tyler handles most of the process himself, he’s not opposed to letting family assist on one of the more tedious aspects.
“The thing he dislikes the most is juicing the limes,” Angela said. This provides a nice opportunity for a bit of mother-son bonding while sharing the fruit-squeezing burden. “That’s often the time I get to spend with him,” she said. “I get to sit with him and chat with him.”
As his high school career wraps up, Tyler is not sure how much time he’ll have for baking or if he’ll pursue it further.
“I think I’ll keep it up as a hobby but not necessarily as my main profession,” he said. He’s also an avid photographer and is considering taking a gap year before college to concentrate on photography.
But continuation of the pie project will likely come from another family member. Chase Wong, a current freshman at Paly who’s also a frequent EHP volunteer and has been doing some baking of his own, has created a website, Creating for Good, and the siblings plan to have pies for sale for Mother’s Day. Pie fans can check their websites and get on the list to stay in the know.
“I’ve been working with my brother to see how we can keep this operation going,” Tyler said of Chase and the future of what’s becoming a family tradition. “He really enjoys helping others.”
“It’s nice just to see that they have that interest and that heart for serving,” Angela said.
Ty’s Pies, tyspies20.wixsite.com/pies; Instagram: instagram.com/tyspies._/. Creating for Good, creatingforgood.org.
Great kid. Great student. Great community member. Go Tyler.
I had one of Tyler’s pies. They are delicious!