Pies to the Sugar Bowl! Mother and daughter bake their way to memorable New Orleans trip

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A Central Texas mother and her 10-year-old daughter baked their way to the Sugar Bowl for the second time in two years, making and selling pies to raise the money so they could afford to go.

Midway Third Grade teacher Leeann Fortenberry and her daughter Faith, a fifth grader at River Valley Intermediate, sold 100 pies over the holidays, 60 at Thanksgiving and 40 at Christmas, to make sure they had enough money to buy tickets, travel and hotel accommodations for three days.

The mother and daughter baking duo also embarked on a baking fundraiser in 2019 when the Bears played in the Sugar Bowl against the Georgia Bulldogs, but only raised enough money to take the fan bus straight to the game and back.

“Two years ago, we had to put our heads together and figure out how we were going to get there because we knew it would be expensive,” Leeann said.

“Although it was amazing, we knew this year we wanted to see more and do more of the team things.”

The pies sold for $12 a piece if picked up at their home or $15 for delivery.

Because so many people bought, the Fortenberry girls could afford to drive themselves and stay longer than they did two years ago.

They took full advantage of being fans and tourists in the Big Easy.

“We saw the Sugar Bowl parade. We were up front and center. We saw the cheerleaders, the Baylor pep rally,” Leann beamed.

“We ate a lot of seafood!” Faith excitedly added.

“One of the greatest things we did is we got to go to the official team hotel, the Marriot, there on Canal Street,” Leeann said.

Faith and Leeann said they want to thank their friends, family and even strangers who helped make their bowl game experience the sweetest they’d ever dreamed.

“We have so many loyal customers,” Leeann said. “So, we are thankful for all our customers and it was so exciting.”

Faith said her favorite part of the experience was “seeing them win.”

Both say they’ll have pie recipes handy for what they hope to be another exciting winning Baylor football season next year.

“We can’t wait for the season to start,” Leeann said.

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