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"
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