Pumpkins, Pumpkins, and MORE Pumpkins!

Frances Hardie, CalSERVES AmeriCorps VIP Leader

Shone Farm, part of the Junior College’s Agriculture Program, donated 120

absolutely enormous pumpkins- they weighed more than some of our first graders!

Last month was October, which means just one thing in the world of the CalSERVES VIP Fellow: Pumpkins! With almost 1,000 kids in CalSERVES afterschool programs, we had a whole lot of pumpkins to find. Local businesses and farmers were extremely supportive and offered us more pumpkins than we could even carve!


The donations started slowly, with farmers not sure what their crops would be like or how many pumpkins they could offer. However, it turned out to be a bumper crop; combined with a rainy final week of the month and shoppers staying inside, there were tons of pumpkins left over all around Sonoma County. We suddenly had to get to all of the farms, organize trucks for pickups, drive everywhere from Petaluma to Windsor to Forestville, and then pass out pumpkins and carving supplies.

 Here, VIP Fellows Tyler Rockey and Gabby O’Neill 

collect pumpkins from Oluf’s Ranches amidst much rain and mud.

All of the VIPs worked very hard bringing the pumpkins to our eight schools, and the carving days went off without a hitch. I got out to see Meadow View and Bellevue, and the kids were having a wonderful time. My favorite moment was when a girl at Meadow View looked into the Cool School room and saw the huge pile of pumpkins sitting on the floor. Her reaction: “WHAT?!?!”

The last week of October was the most insane and hectic of my time at CalSERVES so far, but it was all worth it to see the kids so excited. I’m just glad it’s November now!

A Satire: A Pumpkin-Day Massacre

Jamie Farries, AmeriCorps Mentor at Kawana Elementary


The chill of fall settled upon us as the wind blew the brittle leaves down from the boughs of trees lining the plastic covered picnic tables. The third graders squirmed eagerly as their wicked plot unfurled onto their unsuspecting pumpkins. Unknowingly, their dreary fates were laid in the hands of these callous carvers. The defenseless pumpkins didn't stand a chance.

Oh the gore! Pumpkin guts were spewed across the tabletops like the stomach contents of a child who gorged himself on too much Halloween candy. The pumpkins silently screamed in horror as the devilish children carved them up like Christmas hams, only leaving hollow shells and traced out faces to commemorate their destruction.

The third graders giggled in delight over their reign of terror. After the carnage was finally over, they took their lifeless pumpkins home as souvenirs of what is infamously known today as the Pumpkin-Day Massacre.

Kawana Knows How To Party

by Cyndie Granato, Team Leader at Kawana Elementary

5th graders with pumpkins they carved

Halloween festivities were in full swing at Kawana's CalSERVES programs last week! Promise Fellow Jenny Gibson worked nonstop to make sure that this Halloween would be one that Kawana kids wouldn’t soon forget. CalSERVES entire room was turned into a haunted house, and mentors got into the act by dressing in costume for the day of Halloween. Even in the rain, kids and mentors all had a blast this Halloween!

Some of the costumed Kawana mentors

Additionally, earlier in the week, students painted/carved pumpkins that had been donated from generous farmers and stores across Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties.

3rd graders with their mentor, Alli Campfield, show off their pumpkins

1st grade Daniel paints his pumpkin