By Abby Walton
With Halloween approaching, many people are looking for that perfect pumpkin to carve. Before you design something spooky, you might want to hear about a way to be creative and give back to your favorite cause. This is the idea behind Pumpkins for a Purpose.
“I’d heard of a project where they painted pumpkins pink for breast cancer and I thought it would be fun to tweak the idea so that people could get creative with painting pumpkins and we could benefit multiple organizations,” stated Leigh Ann Akard, the sponsor for this event. Akard said anyone interested needs to bring their painted pumpkin to Akard True Value Hardware at 25 Boone Village Shopping Center by Oct. 21. Along with the pumpkin, people can bring a poster (no more than 4 x 6 inches), that names your pumpkin along with information about your organization.
“I’m excited to see how creative people get with their pumpkins,” Akard stated. In front of each pumpkin will also be a donation can. Akard said people can place a penny in each can, and each group can keep the money donated toward their pumpkin.
“Then the pumpkin with the most votes will get a $100 donation made to their charitable organization from our store,” Akard said.
The public will be able to vote from Oct. 21 through Oct. 31. The winning pumpkin will be featured at the Boone Village Halloween Party on Oct. 29. Photos of each pumpkin will be featured on Akard True Value Hardware’s Facebook page. For every 10 photo shares, Akard’s will donate $1 to that pumpkin’s collection can. Akard said her store is even getting in on the fun.
“Our pumpkin is called Minions against MS. We have a dear friend and employee who is battling MS and all the money from our vote jars will go to MS research,” Akard said. So get creative and instead of scary, and give your pumpkin a purpose.
