It's all hands on deck to assemble and cook the pierogies on the day of the sale. Toni Lee of Butler, left, Joanne Bowen of New York, center, and an unidentified volunteer place potato and cheese balls in the pierogi dough and pinch off the final product.

LYNDORA — It arrives with the change of the season in October: the leaves start coming down and the pierogies start flowing out of St. Andrew Orthodox Church, 201 Penn Ave.

“It's been getting bigger and bigger,” said Kathy Jankovich, a church member involved in the pierogi production.

She said St. Andrew makes and sells pierogies for takeout in October, November and December and again in February, March and April.

“It's once a month generally on the second or third Tuesday, depending on the church calendar,” said Jankovich.

Pierogies appeared in the United States in the early 1900s when thousands of eastern Europeans immigrated here. By the 1940s, pierogi became a staple for church fundraisers.

St. Andrew continues in that tradition today. The proceeds of the pierogi sale go to the church.

“It goes to the sisterhood fund,” said Jankovich. “But then we donate it to the church to use as needed. The money is used for repairs and to buy new altar clothes.”

Making the pierogies for sale is a three-day affair involving 25 to 30 people.

“We probably sell anywhere from 100 to 400 dozen at a time, except around Christmas when we can make 500 dozen,” said Jankovich.

All the pierogies are pre-orderd, she added, and customers can have any filing they want as long as it is potato and cheese.

The first St. Andrew pierogi sale is set for Oct. 19, and the doughy delicacies can travel for beyond the borders of Butler County.

Read the full story in Sunday's Butler Eagle.

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