Local church sells pumpkins for national carving contest

Michelle Belanger wants to win a pumpkin carving contest and donate the $10,000 prize to build a public, handicapped-accessible playground at Southwest Methodist United Church.

The Great $10,000 Carving Contest is sponsored by Pumpkin Patch Fundraisers, which is growing and distributing pumpkins to 1,000 patches nationwide, including at the Southwest Methodist United Church. The church’s batch arrived Saturday, and 220 were already sold, said David Williams, the chairman of trustees and the pumpkin patch project leader.

Contestants must purchase pumpkins from a participating patch, signified by a sticker on the pumpkin, before Oct. 31. The pumpkins range in cost from $1 to $50 based on size, and sales help fundraise for the handicapped-accessible playground.

“People are willing to spend the extra money if they know it’s going to a good cause,” he said.

Belanger and her daughter Katie, 14, are carving a wheelchair. Katie has been in a wheelchair all her life and hasn’t been able to enjoy many playgrounds, her mother said. She hopes the new playground will help younger handicapped children.

“(Katie) hasn’t really had the chance to play at playgrounds because the ones around here are not wheelchair-friendly,” Belanger said. “She wants to help ‘pave the way’ for kids younger than her to have a different experience at parks than what she had growing up.”