Halloween could also be over, however your Jack-o’-lantern may nonetheless be of use to somebody.
As an alternative of throwing it within the rubbish, the Ottawa South Eco-Motion Community (OSEAN) is encouraging you to drop it off at one in every of their many drop-off places in Ottawa.
“Within the week following Halloween, we gather carved and intact pumpkins in Ottawa South and join them with native farms and kitchens. In doing so, we fight meals insecurity whereas diverting them from the town compost facility and the landfill,” the group says on its web site.
Known as Pumpkins for the Planet, pumpkins dropped off will discover new life in native kitchens for meals like pies, and carved jack-o-lanterns will grow to be meals for animals at farms.
Katrina Rogers-Stewart dropped off her household’s two pumpkins on Saturday at their Ernie Calcutt Park drop off location. She says it’s an amazing initiative.
“It’s pretty neat that they go to the animals,” she says. “And there are so many pumpkins that we may as well do something with them.”
Organizer Marianne Ariganello says it started small six years in the past, letting individuals drop off pumpkins in her entrance yard so it may very well be dropped at farms.
“It’s wild. It’s super fun to see my tiny little idea has grown to such a huge event,” she explains.
Now the objective is to get greater than 2,500 pumpkins to go to greater than a dozen organizations and farms.
“It’s nice to suppose we actually are serving to our neighbours with this,” says Ariganello. “As a result of all of those pumpkins are both going to go to farms to scale back their prices, as a result of they don’t must pay to feed their animals a lot. Or it’s going to go to meals centres and it’s going to fill these hungry bellies.”
It’s such a straightforward factor to do however it’s going to have such an amazing affect on so many.”
Pumpkins donated to OSEANs Pumpkins for the Planet initiative on Saturday. (Kimberley Johnson/ Ontario Chronicle Ottawa)
There are 16 drop-off places in Ottawa for OSEAN’s Pumpkins for the Planet program, together with three in Gloucester-Southgate Ward, eight in River Ward, and 5 in Alta Vista Ward.
The pumpkins might be distributed to a number of native farms and organizations.
There may also be a free Pumpkin Alley Enjoyable Day occasion Sunday from 1 to three:30 p.m. at Earnie Calcutt Park on Springland Drive. There might be face-painting and children’ actions, a scavenger hunt, firefighters with Obi the Dalmation, Capital Ghostbusters and scorching chocolate, alongside piles of Jack-o’-lanterns that might be headed to native farms.
Ariganello says there might be occasions for teenagers, and other people can convey donations to assist the Brookfield Neighborhood cabinet.
“We’re using pumpkins as a gateway fruit into food security and food waste and kind of making it a lot more fun to talk about,” says Ariganello.
Karen Auston with the Brookfield Neighborhood Cabinet says the donations are welcome when meals insecurity has peaked for therefore many households.
“It means we are able to maintain our meals cabinets open,” she says. “It is a possibility for the group to get collectively and have a whole lot of enjoyable and (OSEAN are) doing good issues for the organizations corresponding to us, to maintain them going.”
You’ll be able to drop your pumpkin off at this occasion. It’s also accepting money or non-perishable meals donations for the Brookfield Neighborhood Meals Cabinet.
For extra particulars about Pumpkins for the Planet, go to OSEAN’s web site.
