​Pumpkin Patch by the Numbers

Brendan Murphy on November 9, 2023

2023 Pumpkin Patch

  • 44,960 – total pounds of pumpkins
  • 2766 – loose pumpkins 3 – standing bins (approximately 1000 small pumpkins)
  • 27 – small boxes of gourds (approx. 1155)
  • 50 – swan gourds 1987 – miles our pumpkins traveled
  • 55 – Ridley School District volunteers for unloading
  • 23 – CCRP volunteers for unloading and kitchen help
  • 256 – total hours the Patch was open
  • 758 – dollars donated outright in October
  • 152 – dollars donated for Free Pumpkins in November
  • 22,072.25 – total dollars in pumpkin sales
  • 7725.29 – our share (35%)

That’s a lot of numbers, but they help show the magnitude of the impact of our Pumpkin Patch. This event benefits the workers in New Mexico who plant, tend to, and harvest the pumpkins. It benefits the Food Pantry of the Methodist Church of Ridley Park. The 5th grade students attending the outdoor education programs of Eddystone and Woodlyn will benefit in the spring. Our extended community benefits from the Pumpkin Patch. We involved students, coaches and parents of Ridley. People who have been buying pumpkins from us since our first sale in 2005 enjoy being able to return year after year and contribute to a good cause right in their own neighborhood. When pumpkins became scarce or nonexistent in retail stores, we were there for the community. And pumpkins on the lawn gave people sitting in traffic on Sellers Avenue something to smile about.

The Pumpkin Patch benefits Christ Church as well, and not just in a monetary way. While selling pumpkins, we get to meet and chat with so many people and they get to meet us! They enjoy hearing about how we spread the wealth. They are amazed when we tell them that our pumpkins come from NM! Some visitors had questions about our church and about being an Episcopalian. Others asked to enter the church and pray or light a candle.

So, YES, the Pumpkin Patch is a great deal of work, but it does a great deal of GOOD!

Thank you to ALL who helped in any way, shape or form. We would not have been successful without every single one of you!