I love gardening. For me, the hard work (weeding) pays off in so many ways. My family and I love fresh veggies that last deep into the winter. We have big boxes of potatoes, cabbage, acorn squash saved up in the basement. Better yet, we are still harvesting kale, parsley, turnips (made some chicken soup this weekend), swiss chard and brussel sprouts. Not bad for Vermont in late October.

Pretty good sign for scrap wood. Don’t you think?

Charity Pumpkins

So it was a natural the other day when my son and I were figuring out what to do with the dozens of pumpkins we grew. We first offered my son and daughter and their neighbor friends a pumpkin each. That went well but we still had a ton of pumpkins. After some debate, my son and I decided to create a charity pumpkin sale. After making a homemade sign together from scrap wood, we agreed on a price: $5 for the large and $2 for small ones. Seth decided that half the proceeds should go to National Wildlife Federation and the other half to the Vermont Network Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (VT Network), where my wife works as an attorney.

We had a neighbor stop by as we were putting up the sign, so we got some cash flow immediately. Seth was excited right away. Each day Seth would get off the school bus and he would go to the “cash box” that we left on the road. Some days there was some money in there, other days not. He would rush into the house when there was some money, with total delight. It was fun to see.

We had one special sale. Unknown to us, the Executive Director of the VT Network (Michele’s boss) was driving by and stopped to get pumpkins. I think about how great it must have felt for her to see that the money was going to support her hard work on such a critical issue like domestic violence and sexual assault. Every dollar helps and now Seth is going to be in their newsletter!

Then things slowed down. I wasn’t sure whether we would sell the whole crop. Days might have passed by without any sales. Then one day I noticed that all the remaining pumpkins where gone. I have to say, the first thing that crossed my mind was that a teenager might have taken the pumpkins, but when I looked in the cash box it was full of cash. I felt like my son that day running into the house to tell my wife of the good news. I put the cash box back so Seth would find it when he got off the bus. It was a special feeling to see him so excited that we had sold maybe 20 pumpkins.

In total, we raised $66. We have made a fat contribution to NWF and the VT Network. I think we all gain much more than that. Have a great Halloween!

Donate NowConsider making your own donation to NWF or your favorite charity this Halloween and every other day. If you donate to NWF right now, your contribution will be matched by Craig Newmark.

 

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Published: October 31, 2012