Pumpkin drop fundraiser a smashing good time
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS EVENT A UNIQUE ONE HERE
Big Brothers Big Sister Lethbridge helped demolish a car with giant pumpkins Saturday afternoon for the fourth annual Pumpkin Drop fundraiser at Canadian Tire South.
Hundreds of people throughout the community and within the Big Brother Big Sister organization came out to take part in fun activities and to watch a thousand pounds of pumpkin be dropped on a vehicle.
“It is something fun to do and something that our kids can come to. It is the only one like this in town and we like to do something different,” says Jen Visser, Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“Especially for the kids in our program it is an opportunity to come here and see something kind of cool, and what kid doesn’t want to see a thousand pound pumpkin demolish a car. We treat it is a fundraiser but it is a small one, we just do it for fun.”
The pumpkins were donated through local growers such as Green Haven Garden Centre who donated the pumpkin they used at their Children’s Festival. Zero Gravity helped by providing the crane to hoist the pumpkin high into the sky, and the demolished car was donated through National Salvage.
“It started four years ago when a local grower contacted me and asked if we wanted to do this because they always have giant pumpkins that they use at events in Smokey Lake and another outside of Calgary,” says Visser.
The free event drew in crowds to watch the two monster pumpkins squish and break the vehicle all to go towards a local organization that wants to help make children’s lives in the community brighter.
“The funds go directly into our mentoring program,” says Visser. “For our five programs we are serving over 500 kids every year, and there are still 100 kids waiting for a Big Brother or Big Sister, so all of the funds raised stay local within our community.”
For more information on future Big Brother Big Sister events around the city, to donate to the organization, or for more information on how you can become a mentor in a child's life, visit lethbridge.bigbrotherbigsister.ca.