Sterling Payne, a local Charlottesville kindergarten student, was busy using a stick to stab colorful leaves among the dozens of pumpkins spilling across the grass.

“Look, Mom!” he shouted. “Look how many I got!”

With Halloween quickly approaching, Sterling and his mother, Lisa Rochefort, were volunteering at the pumpkin patch hosted by the Wesley Community Child Care Center. One of the center’s biggest fundraisers, the annual pumpkin patch began Oct. 17 and runs through Halloween. The patch is open from 10 a.m. until dark, Monday through Saturday, and from 12 to 6 p.m. Sundays. The pumpkins range in price from $0.50 to $20.

This is the third year the WCCCC has hosted the fundraiser. The event is part of a nationwide program headed by The Pumpkin Patch Fundraisers, an organization that works with Navajo farmers in the Four Corners region of New Mexico to grow and send pumpkins all across the country. Churches and other organizations then sell the pumpkins, of which the majority of the proceeds are returned to the farmers. Participating organizations also keep anywhere from 25 to 40 percent as fundraising revenue.

This year’s WCCCC pumpkin patch revenues will go toward replenishing the child care center’s scholarship program. The WCCCC, a program of the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church across from Memorial Gymnasium, serves families with children from six weeks to 5 years old. Sue Lewis, this year’s project coordinator for Wesley’s pumpkin patch and child care center board member, said although it is not an actual preschool, the program has “a very good curriculum.”

“Not all of the families have the resources to pay full tuition,” Lewis said. “The scholarship fund offers partial scholarships. We’ve gotten kind of low on [funds for] that.” Lewis said the program hopes to fund at least two full-year partial scholarships with the sales from this year’s pumpkin patch.

The pumpkin patch, while a creative and seasonal way to raise the money, is nevertheless hard work for volunteers.

“The potential for making a lot of money is there,” Lewis said, “but it’s labor-intensive.”

From unloading 53-foot-long semi-trucks full of pumpkins to staffing the pumpkin patch with volunteers each day for two weeks, the event is a huge undertaking. Additionally, after the event, the program staff is responsible for disposing of any unsold pumpkins.

“I’m even looking into farmers who may feed pumpkins to their pigs!” Lewis laughed.

Teachers, parents, families from the church, University students and Madison House volunteers all staff the pumpkin patch on various days. “It’s the first year we’ve volunteered,” Rochefort said of herself and Sterling.

The WCCCC’s location, facing Emmet Street next to Alumni Hall, has made the pumpkin patch a practically unavoidable part of the University community this October. Many of the sales have been student purchases, as students walk to and from class and home, the gym and even football games.

“Even though it was raining, we sold a lot of pumpkins on game day,” said Rochefort, referring to the football game against Georgia Tech last weekend. “Most of the people today have been students, too.”

Two such clients were first-year Engineering student Irene Kwon and first year College student Alexis Power. Their resident advisor in Metcalf Dormitory informed them about the pumpkin patch after organizing a hall pumpkin-carving event. For both girls, it had been a while since their last pumpkin purchases. “This is actually the first time in a really … a really long time,” Kwon said.

“It’s going to be a fun bonding activity,” Power added.

Kwon and Power were not the only ones with carving plans. With his shish kabob of colorful leaves still waving, Sterling Payne crouched by the parking lot curb. Looking on, Rochefort smiled.

“We’re going to pick out a big one,” she said. “We’ll carve it tonight.”

I wasn’t sure if I had the right place when I pulled into a warehouse parking lot. It was dark, kind of empty and the only entrance that was open looked like it was straight out of a B-grade horror movie — fluorescent light flickering and all. I immediately contemplated turning around and going back home. But the “I Y Derby” sticker on the back of one of the cars seemed to suggest that this was where I was supposed to be, so I hesitantly got out of the car and walked to the eerie door, hoping there wasn’t a serial killer inside.

Instead, I saw a bunch of helmet and kneepad-wearing women sporting brightly colored socks and fishnets, bandanas, tattoos and booty shorts, skating in a pack around a circle rink. Looks like I had come just in time — practice had just started.

The most I’ve ever seen or heard about roller derbies is from watching the trailer for Drew Barrymore’s movie “Whip It!,” but I didn’t actually know what it was until I went to one of the Charlottesville Derby Dames’ practices.

These women are tough. Roller derby is a full-contact sport, complete with body blocks, aggressive racing and lots and lots of falling. “Rink rash” doesn’t have anything on Charlottesville Derby Dame skater “Dyslexi.” Fellow skater “Bruta Liza” pointed out a massive bruise on her thigh during stretching, and Dyslexi laughed it off, “Yeah, I can basically see the Virgin Mary in it!”

It’s just as rowdy as the atmosphere at a hockey game, except instead of guys on ice, it’s a bunch of women in roller skates. I think the fact that the rink was lined with couches and large pads tied to the walls were the first signs that these women meant business.

Rowdiness aside, however, roller derby is a highly regulated sport. “Ivy,” a veteran skater both here and in Florida who couldn’t participate that night because she’s pregnant, explained the rules to me. There are five players on the rink from each team: three blockers, a jammer and a pivot, as well as two refs. The jammer, distinguished by a panty (aka helmet cover) with a star on either side, is the only woman who can score points, trying to get past the other team’s blockers. For each blocker she passes, her team gets a point.

But getting through the blockers isn’t as easy as it may seem. The pivot, who wears a panty with a stripe down the middle, sets the pace of the rest of the pack, calling out the speed and what’s going on with the jammer. She and the three blockers can use (most of) their bodies to keep the jammer from passing. Though they can’t shove people on the other team with their hands, they can shove their own team members to get them where they need to be. With someone trying to get through, under, around or over, there’s bound to be a lot of falling.

Which is why, Ivy said, it’s important to learn how to fall correctly. The Dames offer a “fresh meat” practice where new members can learn the rules of the rink. Amber, the newest member of the group, is learning how to skate and how to fall so she doesn’t hurt herself, among other things. “It’s a really encouraging practice,” she said. New members skate at the fresh meat practice until they pass a series of tests and can practice with everyone else.

For a sport I never knew existed, I was surprised at the strong culture surrounding roller derby. Each woman who participates — and reaches a certain skill level — creates a derby girl name for herself that is hers and hers only. In fact, there’s even a national list of everyone registered, so no one girl has the same or similar name, Ivy said. They all seemed really close at practice, and that friendship is one of the reasons many of the skaters joined the team. Both Amber and Tessa Hansen joined because they were new to the area and wanted to meet new people. “You meet a bunch of new, fun, interesting women,” Hansen said. “And it’s a kickass workout.”

I don’t know if my tiny little body frame and/or wallet could handle that kind of beating/workout (skates and all that protective gear are expensive!), but it’s awesome to watch. The Dames will host their first home bout at the Augusta Expo Center on Sunday at 5 p.m.

As Hansen said, “Think 15 ladies in fishnets and knee pads, skating fast and hard in kitchy roller rinks … Refs tweeting, music loud, disco ball spinning, fans cheering for trips, crashes, and pileups, and throughout some seriously badass skating.”

Sounds about right.

Leslie’s column runs biweekly Fridays. She can be reached at l.keena@cavalierdaily.com.