Pumpkins for the Planet
In the week following Halloween, we collect carved and intact pumpkins in Ottawa South and connect them with local farms and kitchens. In doing so, we combat food insecurity while diverting them from the City compost facility and the landfill.
Volunteer with us!
We’d love to have your help! We start gearing up for Pumpkins for the Planet in June. Please contact us at any time during the year if you’d like to be added to our email list for volunteers.
Possible roles:
Contacting Farms, Food Centres, Construction and Landscaping Companies (emailing and talking on the phone)
General Logistics (administrative tasks that can be done from home)
Social Media Promotion (making Facebook posts, designing posters, sending/sharing Tweets)
Collection Site (being a local drop-off point for pumpkins in your neighbourhood)
Local Driver (driving from collection sites)
Food Security (working to make sure intact pumpkins get to humans)
Pumpkin Lifter (help load pumpkins onto vehicles - AKA give me a date and time and I'll be there)
** We would love to sign up some partners who can help us transport pumpkins to farms. If your business or organization owns an insured dump truck or trailer and can help us deliver more pumpkins to farms we would be pleased to feature you in all of our Pumpkins for the Planet promotion.**
We are only as successful as our volunteers and the local businesses that are helping us move pumpkins!
It is always a pleasure to work with Foodsharing Ottawa, Riverside Park Community Association - RPCA and Uplands Community Council
A huge thank you to the following local businesses for their support in 2023:
1-800-GOT-JUNK? for contributing two trucks and drivers to bring our pumpkins to their final homes on farms
Local Gardening Services for contributing a moving truck and driver to shuttle pumpkins to Pumpkin Alley
Crestway Construction + Design for contributing a dump trailer and a free ride for pumpkins to a local farm
Glover Contracting for contributing a collection site and a free ride to pumpkins to get to Pumpkin Alley