The NY and NJ pallet company, Greenway Products & Services recently helped the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Central Nassau display and preserve its fall Pumpkin Patch. The church grounds are transformed for this event, which sells approximately 5,000 pumpkins each year. Scarecrows, pumpkin decorations and music on the weekends add to the festive atmosphere.
The pumpkins sold at the Pumpkin Patch on church grounds in Garden City, NY, are grown on a Navajo Indian Reservation in Farmington, New Mexico. Funds from the sale go to support the Navaho community, which faces unemployment rates as high as 42%–that’s more than 8 and half times what the overall country faces.
High unemployment rates contribute to widespread poverty among Native Americans. For people living on the Navajo Reservation, jobs can be hard to find and to keep because they often require traveling far distances from home. The travel time and expense is sometimes too much to sustain.
Pumpkin USA, the pumpkin farm that supplies the Pumpkin Patch, grows 1,200 acres of pumpkins and employs over 700 Native Americans during the two-month harvest. The farm also employs a smaller full-time, off-season staff of Native Americans. This has a positive and lasting impact on the community.
The Pumpkin Patch supports others in need, too. A special sale on October 16th includes pink-painted pumpkins to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.
Almost 200 donated pallets are used to display the thousands of pumpkins sold at the Pumpkin Patch. The pallets also prevent rot that can happen if pumpkins sit on damp ground. Greenway Products & Services helps further by storing the pallets used each year, saving the church additional time and money.
Greenway Products & Services is pleased to be a part of this community event and proud of the company’s role in helping both theUnitarian Universalist Congregation church and Native American families. Join Greenway in making this year’s Garden Patch another huge success.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Central Nassau
223 Stewart Avenue, Garden City, NY 11530
www.uuccn.org
For more information, contact Patsy Kaplan, Pumpkin Patch Coordinator, ramabachi@aol.com.
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