J.P. Pies makes start near Endicott

Miranda Kimmell, left, and Jill Moore of J.P. Pies show off a fresh batch of product, hot from the oven.

Jase Kimmell, the inspiration for starting J.P. Pies, performs a quality control check on his personal rolling pin.

Two Endicott residents have started a business that is a little fruity.

Miranda Kimmell and her mom, Jill Moore, have started J.P. Pies near Endicott. They began the business after Kimmell's one-year-old son, Jase Patrick, was diagnosed with Sotos Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by a distinctive facial appearance, overgrowth in childhood and learning disabilities or delayed development of mental and movement abilities.

“In a nutshell, my son was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition a couple months ago,” said Kimmell. “I thought about what I could do as a stay-at-home mom to help fund medical bills for our son.”

Kimmell and her husband, Sam, also have a three-year-old daughter, Avery. Sam Kimmell works at the McGregor Company.

Moore said they hope to bring awareness to Sotos Syndrome through the business.

“It's to bring awareness to his cause and to help pay some of his medical expenses, which is kind of unknown,” she said. “We thought let's do what we know we're good at.”

It started out small, with Kimmell and Moore advertising through Facebook that they were making and selling pies.

“It just kept getting shared and shared, and soon people I didn't even know were contacting me,” said Kimmell. “It's done a lot better than I thought. A lot more people wanted pie than I expected.”

“God answered a lot of prayers,” added Moore. “Everything kind of just kept clicking along.”

Soon, the mother-daughter duo decided it was in the best interests of continuing to get an official business license and a commercial kitchen.

“We opened a commercial kitchen in a family farm house that wasn't being used,” said Kimmell. “We set it all up and worked really hard on it.”

The kitchen is in the Moore family's homestead near Dusty, in the former Don Moore farmhouse.

“It's her (Miranda's) grandfather's vacant house,” said Moore. “It's a 100-year-old farmhouse.”

The kitchen is between Endicott and Dusty, with an official LaCrosse address, although it is actually not near LaCrosse. Kimmell said they work based on the orders they get.

“Three times a week usually we go to the kitchen,” she said. “We box them up and do deliveries.”

Moore said she spends a lot of time baking, and she and Kimmell are both learning how to balance their schedules.

“Now we're just learning how to manage our time,” said Moore.

One thing Kimmell must balance her schedule around is Jase's therapies. BOOST Collaborative, a non-profit children and family support services organization out of Pullman, comes out to Endicott each week to work with Jase.

“BOOST is the greatest organization ever,” said Moore. “Their thought is they go to the home. They want these kids to still be productive in society, and you want them to be worked with as soon as they're diagnosed.”

Moore said she is thankful for this organization for her grandson.

“They come out, and Jase has quite a few therapists he has to see,” she said. “They are really a blessing. We are really, really blessed to have those people. They're a great organization.”

Kimmell said the new business has definitely kept her busy.

“It feels like I have two jobs,” she said. “We're making it work.”

She said Jase is her inspiration.

“He's our mascot,” she said. “We named it after him because he's our inspiration and to raise awareness about Sotos Syndrome.”

There is a bigger goal in play, too.

“We'd like him to be able to run the company one day,” said Kimmell. “We want to leave the company to him.”

“Sotos children are very friendly, nice people. They like to be around people, and they do well with repetitive behaviors,” said Moore. “It would be a really neat thing to be able to help out my grandson like that. It's pies for a purpose.”

One of Jase's contributions so far, other than being the name sake, has been to be a taste tester.

“He has tried the filling,” said Kimmell. “He's a big eater.”

The entire family, Moore said, has come on board to help out in various ways. Her husband, Daniel Moore, has helped with picking fruit. Connie Kimmell, Miranda's mother-in-law, has been helping with some deliveries and also with the company logo and website, which is still under construction.

“She's done all the logo and designed all the stuff,” said Moore. “Both grandmothers have come together with what they're good at.”

The logo has Jase's face on it.

“We really wanted his face on there,” said Moore. “She did a really great job.”

The Kimmell's were recently living in Connecticut while Sam was in the Navy, and Moore said it is a great blessing to have them home in light of Jase's diagnosis.

“I'm glad they're here. It's nice to be in a small town,” she said. “There's nothing like this BOOST group anywhere. That's amazing. God has just opened a lot of doors. He has really blessed us.”

Kimmell said she is excited to see where this business goes.

“People seem to be crazy for pie,” she said.

All of the pies are handmade with the freshest possible ingredients. Kimmell said some fruit has come from Warm Springs Ranch in Penawawa, as well as other local sources.

“It's completely handmade. We want it to be just like it came from grandma's kitchen,” said Kimmell. “We pick the fruit, cut the fruit and make the pie. That's part of what makes it so time consuming. But where else can you get completely homemade pies? We'll make them for you.”

“People think we're crazy to do it that way,” said Moore. “We're kind of artisans at what we do! We hand make with love. We're not just pumping them out. We're really from start to finish, we do it all.”

While the eventual goals are to be able to establish a store front in Colfax and to be able to hand the business off to Jase, Kimmell said another goal is to stick with the homemade and fresh ingredients.

“We don't want it to get so big that we lose that,” she said.

Moore said she typically does weekly deliveries on Wednesdays, and it is preferable for orders to be in about one week ahead of time so they can prepare and know what is coming.

Kimmell said some of her favorite pies are coconut cream and peach, and many people went crazy for rhubarb strawberry. She said they plan to be at the craft fair at WSU, as well as at Colfax First Thursdays starting in October. Pocket versions of the pies are currently being sold at Events on Main in Colfax.

“We'd like to be local and keep our base,” said Kimmell. “And we're working on trying to deliver further than Colfax. We're hoping for shipping eventually. A lot of people from Spokane are interested.”

Moore said Connie Kimmell is also currently working on a banner to put on the highway near the Dusty Country Store in order to alert WSU football traffic to the pie business.

“We're going to be busy,” she said.

“We're going to have to pace ourselves,” said Kimmell. “It's exciting.”

Moore said she hopes Jase's story and the story of the business can help others.

“If there's any way our pie story can touch anyone else out there we'd like to help,” she said. “You look at life a little differently. He's here, and he's meant for a purpose.”

J.P. Pies can be contacted through Facebook. A phone number for the business is on that page, and the business website will be up soon.

https://www.facebook. com/jphomeadepies/?fref=ts