Saturday, November 8, 2008

History of our patch

Meet the Lopez family Community pumpkin patch.
 
It's a simple little pumpkin patch with no fanfare. Here you'll find pumpkins of many different shapes and sizes. You'll find orange, white and even grey pumpkins scattered around. You'll find Cinderella pumpkins and the many different varieties of gourds.

You'll find all of that at his pumpkin patch... but the one thing won't find is a person "selling" any of it.

Greg's pumpkin patch is not your average "for profit" pumpkin patch.

For the past 19 years, Greg has offered that you come by the pumpkin patch, pick up some free pumpkins and leave a "good faith" donation to a local school or charity of your choice. His patch is a non profit pumpkin patch operated purely on the honor system.

It's important to reiterate, Greg's gives away free pumpkins with only a mere hope that one makes a donation.

It's an idea that has endured over the many years and has allowed many to benefit. The list seems endless, but some of the local schools and charities that have benefited are: DeLaveaga Elementary, Branciforte Middle School, Gault Elementary, Harbor High, Jacobs's Heart, The Santa Cruz Cub Boy and Cub Scouts and many more.

Greg has made the idea of donating simple. By simply making a donation to a local charity or school of your choice, he will ensure your donation goes back to them.

Over the years, the pumpkin patch has raised thousands of dollars for local schools and charities by our community giving donations. Greg also helps the DeLaveaga Elementary Life Lab by donating all of the pumpkins they use for their annual October pumpkin Life Lab fund raiser. Not only does he donate them, he actually picks the pumpkins from the field, loads them up and hand delivers them to the school. He even picks up the pumpkins that didn't sell at the fund raiser and brings them back to his patch.

It's a refreshing community "feel good" story that needs to be told.

New for 2009 - Join our facebook fan page!

Why join our facebook fan page? The biggest and best pumpkin's always arrive after a trip from 'The Patch'. Never before have we had a medium like facebook to distribute the information of 'fresh pumpkin runs' like facebook.

By joining our facebook fan page they will receive those updates *and* all fans will know the status of the patch (ie, if were stocked or low) and of course they will be updated as to ALL THINGS Patch

Thanks folks!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Juan-Community-Charity-Pumpkin-Patch/165623770836


Thanks from the Scouts


From Cub Scout Pack 618
 
To Greg and the Lopez Family,
 
On behalf of Pack 618, we would like to thank all of you for your continued support to not only Cub Scout Pack 618, but to the community at large. Your tireless work in support of our community doesn't go unrecognized. The "spirit" of your patch enables many organizations to provide services that in this age are not able to be funded because of our current economy.
 
The money we raise as a result of the pumpkin patch enables us as leaders to guide our youth in becoming good citizens, respecting our community, exposing our boys to fun activities, and making good decisions through guidance. It also allows our youth to support needy causes such as the Second Harvest Food Bank, Toys for Tot program, feed the homeless, financially support various community organizations, and allow boys who can't afford Scouts to join through (our soon to be formed) foundation for scouting.
 
We applaud the work the Lopez family performs for our community and look forward to our continued participation in this pumpkin patch event.
 
Eric Aasen & John Greathouse, Cub Scout Pack 618

Monday, November 3, 2008

Thanks Pumpkin Patch!

Thank You Greg for the pumpkin patch!
 
Over the years, many charities and schools have benefited from the generosity of our community donators. Schools such as DeLaveaga Elementary School, Branciforte Middle School, Harbor High School, and others.
 
Below I've posted some thank you for Greg and the patch in general.
 
Thanks Greg!
 
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DeLaveaga Elementary School Life Lab pumpkin sale
 
Thanks very much everyone for your hard work, endless dedication and remarkable talent making the pumpkin sale a great success!!!!  Wow am I impressed with you all. Greg, I can't thank you enough- arriving to LL on Mon morning to all the pumpkins was like a Christmas present.  The pumpkin fairy had come overnight!  Thanks everyone for your help with this fundraiser and your overall dedication to Life Lab.  The kids are really enjoying their experiences there, and thanks to teachers, parents and community members like you we can continue to offer them a top notch science program.  Hats off to you!!  - Angela
 
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More to come
 

2008 Results

Where do all of the donations go?
 
Below is a list of the 2008 receiptants from your generous donations. All donations will go to the local branch of the charity listed below. If they are a national organization then we will send the money directly to their Corp office.
 
Thanks again everyone and as you can see below, many many fine organizations benefit from our little pumpkin patch.
 
See you ALL at the patch next year and remember, spread the word and we'll do even more next year.
 

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Schools and Charities

The amazing thing about the community pumpkin patch is that anyone can benefit.
 
Well, you have to be a local school or charity but if you are you can have your supporters stop by and donate to you.
 
Below is a short list of the many who have benefited from our community pumpkin patch.

The Santa Cruz Cub Scouts  
  -- 2008's major volunteer for keeping the patch stocked
DeLaveaga Elementary
Branciforte Middle School
Gault Elementary
Harbor High
Jacobs's Heart
Habitat for Humanity

The list goes on. Once I obtain the entire list I will be sure to post it here.

The community pumpkin patch is a "not for profit" community pumpkin patch. All volunteers of the patch do it because they know that its a good thing that Greg has created and want to keep it going. Thanks to the many supporters of the patch and without them would never have grown in its current popularity.

PreSchool annual trip

The Banana Belt Buddies pre school take their annual trip to the pumpkin patch!
  Spooky stuff! :)
 Is that a bumble bee? No, its Roxy! Our dog!
  Can you say "BOO!"!

photos from the 2008 pumpkin patch

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pictures of the patch

If you haven't been by the pumpkin patch, here are some pictures that might entice you.

2008 - Classic pumpkin photo of the different kinds we bring back to the patch.


2008 - As you can see, we can all kinds of different varieties of pumpkins. The grey weird looking ones always go first.


2008 - Above is the actual pumpkin field where we go to pick our pumpkins fresh off the vines. Were always looking for volunteers to make the annual trips to the pumpkin field  :)


2007 - was an all time high for pumpkin donations. Largely due to having more space. See, my yard was not landscaped yet so we had my entire front yard and Greg's available for pumpkins. The community came out and full support and helped a bunch of local schools and charities.

photos from the 2007 and 2008 pumpkin patch
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