To the editor:

This past Saturday approximately three thousand pumpkins were unloaded onto the front lawn at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Once again we are indebted to student groups, sports teams, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and many others from around town that gave up their time to graciously help us with this undertaking. 

On behalf of St. John’s I want to thank everyone who showed up on Saturday and offered their help. One of my favorite things about our Pumpkin Patch is the community that builds in and around it. Whether it be neighbors, old and new, connecting or reconnecting with one another while searching for their perfect pumpkin, little children running through the pumpkins making friends and playing tag or hide and seek, or any of the other little things that highlight what a wonderful community we have in Barrington, it is such a delight seeing our community come together in these ways. In addition to what it brings to our community this Pumpkin Patch reaches far beyond Barrington. While it does serve as a fundraiser for St. John’s the majority of the money actually goes back to the organization that supplies the pumpkins, Pumpkin Patch Fundraisers. For around thirty years Pumpkin Patch Fundraisers has grown their pumpkins in Navajo Land, creating over seven hundred seasonal jobs each year, in addition to the year round staff, in a community that has one of the highest unemployment rates in our country. So while this event certainly benefits our community, its greatest benefits are those it brings to the Pumpkin Patch Fundraiser community in Navajo Land. As we are getting this fall season underway I want to say thank you to each and every one of you who came out to help unload the pumpkins last week and to everyone who will come out and visit the Pumpkin Patch in the coming month. We look forward to welcoming you to St. John’s and helping you find the perfect pumpkin.

The Rev. Patrick J. Greene

Rector

St. John’s Episcopal Church