Published: Tuesday, 7th October, 2008 12:30
Pumpkin to think about
By Mike Farrell
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Charity shop workers want you to visit their giant vegetable
GUESS: Project volunteers Morris Devine and Daniel Plews
Pic by: Joe Mulgrew
AN organically grown giant pumpkin has been recruited to help boost the profile of a Dumbarton charity.
As Hallowe’en draws nearer, folk at second-hand furniture shop — Home from Home — are hoping the power of the pumpkin will draw more people along.
And to raise some money they are holding a competition for visitors to guess the weight of their massive vegetable.
This wee event was the brainchild of Rose Harvie, a volunteer at Home from Home — a charity furniture shop — who is also famous for her green-fingered ability to grow vegetables on her allotment.
She told the Reporter: “We are always looking at new ways of trying to gather money for the group.
“The pumpkin was too big to carry down from my allotment to the shop, we needed to get some volunteers to pick it up in a lorry.
“It is grown organically, and hopefully people will go down for a look at it, but will also see some of the things on offer in Home from Home as well.
“More unusual things like this will also raise our profile, which is what we always want to do.”
The Home from Home store in Dumbarton is the new home of the big pumpkin, and customers will be able to take a guess at the weight of the vegetables for a small fee, with the chance of winning a hamper.
The project has worked with churches and other groups in the area for around 14 years, taking unwanted furniture and giving it to the needy.
Tim Rhead, chairman of the board of the group, welcomed the pumpkin to the shop in Ash Road, Dumbarton.
He told the Reporter: “So far, Home from Home has been very successful in helping people in need in the area.
“But, even though we’ve been here a long while, a lot of folk perhaps don’t know we exist.
“So, stuff like this can help to get us a bit of notice.
“And I think when most people come down to the shop, they’re really surprised because it is a sort of Aladdin’s cave, it is so full of things, which is always being added to.”
The giant pumpkin competition will be running over the next few weeks at the project, with people welcome to go down to the store to give guessing its weight a go.
Home from Home is also on the lookout for volunteers, whether they be office workers or furniture removers, so if you are interested in chipping in, call them on 01389 733733.
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