On Friday, May 22, Carleton’s chapter of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hosted its annual Pie it Forward fundraising event. Every Spring Term, the chapter invites the Carleton community to throw pies at students and professors to fundraise for global medical aid in a silly, light-hearted environment.

Held on the Bald Spot, the event was carefree and welcoming, according to Ella Goolsby ’29, a MSF board member who assisted in organizing the event. “The board members are there, and we’re making sure people are Venmo-ing before they get the pies,” she said.

The group used the outdoor picnic tables to make the pies, which consisted of paper plates and tins sprayed with whipped cream.. The board explained this measure was more cost-effective and allowed them to maximize the money they donated to the MSF, which “[provides] urgently needed humanitarian aid in moments of crisis and conflict,” according to the official website.

“I was in a group of mostly just observers,” said Lauren Shepard ’29, who stumbled across the event and stayed because she saw some friends there. Although she did not pie anyone, she appreciated the fundraiser’s creativity and the way Carleton students and faculty came together.

While students were the ones doing the pie-ing, faculty and students were all “victims” of the fundraiser. Some featured faculty and staff included Carleton President Alison Byerly and professors such as Joe Chihade of the Chemistry Department and Prathi Seneviratne of the Economics Department. Carleton Student Alliance (CSA) President Vivian Agugo was also in attendance as someone to be pie-d.

However, the event’s unstructured nature gave no two visitors the same experience. “Ally B was there and so were some professors, but mostly I just remember seeing students get pie-d because they were the ones standing closer to me,” said Shepard.

Additionally, some professors were higher targets than others. “Apparently, there are some pretty hard chemistry and math and physics professors who made a lot of money,” Goolsby noted. She explained that the professors sat in a line on one of the picnic tables on the Bald Spot so they could be pie-d.

The MSF board also set prices for different groups. For example, the fee to pie first-year students was the lowest at three dollars, with the price increasing with grade level and depending on whether a person was a professor or an administrator. 

While professors typically signed up for the event, some students were added to the roster unbeknownst to them. 

“You could sign your friends up with a Google Form,” said Goolsby. “So I signed all my friends up. They didn’t show up, but it’s okay, but I had a friend there, and a friend that showed up because he got nominated, and he was just standing around in fear that somebody was [going to] come and pie him.”

Notably, pie-ing did not require a warning. Attendees reported being ‘pie-free’ one minute and having a face full of whipped cream the next.

Despite MSF’s long organization process — including meetings, sending campus announcements, creating a Google Form and going to Costco for supplies — the event lasted about half an hour after 5a on Friday.

“I think we made [around] $800 and it’s only a 30-minute thing,” said Goolsby. “We raised the money that we were hoping to, and I think a very similar amount that we had done last year as this year. The goal of Carleton Doctors Without Borders is to raise money for the organization, which then decides what  to do with it each year. It’s a huge success.”

“It was entertaining to watch,” said Shepard. Goolsby agreed. Although she was pie-d and spent the half-hour working, she enjoyed participating   in an event she felt brought joy to students and professors alike.

Beyond pies, the fundraiser brings awareness to global medical inequity and promotes advocacy on Carleton’s campus, which is MSF’s goal at Carleton, both through this fundraiser and as a whole.

MSF will not host its next Pie it Forward fundraiser until Spring 2027, but the board is already looking forward to next year. “The more we get the word out about the problems that are going on in the world, the more advocacy and help we can get, the better,” said Goolsby.