With a horse float overflowing with pumpkins, Pathfinders Pumpkin Run officially started its four-day journey on Monday.
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The not-profit organisation will be delivering the winter vegetable to those in need across Tamworth, Newcastle and Sydney as part of the annual charity run, now in its fifth year.
Kids and volunteers will deliver and make soup with the pumpkins to nursing homes, soup kitchens and other charities.
Pathfinders chief executive Alan Brennan said the drive was important for the kids in the service’s residential out-of-home and foster care to learn about the giving spirit.
“It’s quite a commitment over time to be growing and delivering pumpkins but it is really worth it because it has engaged so many young people,” Mr Brennan said.
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“They see people working together, and get a really strong sense of belonging to something that’s really important. It might be the humble pumpkin but belonging is a complex social phenomenon.
“It’s about giving back, and learning because not many people know how to grow a pumpkin.”
This year, it is estimated the group harvested about 10 tonnes of pumpkin from the crop at Tilbuster Station.
Mr Brennan said the pumpkin drive gave the service’s young people a taste at farming.
“They learn about how to grow, harvest, store and cook the pumpkins but also how to work in a team,” Mr Brennan said.
“They gain a lot of skill learning because they are doing it all themselves.”
The Pumpkin Run finishes on Thursday at Government House at an event hosted by Governor David Hurley.