What remained of a white, creamy pie was clinging to Tara Carlsen’s face on Tuesday.

Some of it was in her hair and on her eyelashes. A large portion was splattered on a black garbage bag she was wearing to protect her clothing.

Jacob Hempel, a Cedar Lane student carries a box of food to the Niles Salvation Army truck Tuesday. Submitted photo

Despite all of this, the Cedar Lane teacher still had something nice to say.

“A pie never tasted so good for helping out a good cause,” Carlsen said.

Cedar Lane students collected more than 2,200 nonperishable food items for the Niles Salvation Army during a school-wide food drive Nov 14-22.

Not bad for a school with an enrollment of less than 100 students.

“People need to start taking us seriously because we raised a lot of food,” said Cedar Lane senior Cortni Ropp.

Students that brought in items voted for which teacher would receive a pie in the face after the drive ended on Tuesday. Carlsen received at least 1,000 votes, making her the runaway winner of a pie in the face.

Ropp said students at Cedar Lane took the food drive seriously when they heard the Niles Salvation Army was in need of food. Ropp personally collected 60 items from her home and more than 100 more by going door to door in her neighborhood.

“It just takes a little charisma and a lot of hard work to get a lot of cans,” Ropp said. “Some people just put out a box and expect people to put cans in it. You need to do more than that.”

Cedar Lane is an alternative school in the Niles Community Schools district.