Casillas/Garner Friends and Family Relay for Life Team held one of several fundraisers they hold during the year. This time it was pumpkins, produce, baked goods and more. Last year, Tony and Kathy Alameda created their first pumpkin sale for the group and profits were donated to their Relay for Life Team. Last year, as a trial, the friends and family donated produce and baked goods and raised $5,000 for the American Cancer Society. This year, the fundraiser, in the beautifully decorated barn on the Alameda property, was expanded to two days. Dana Mills, Relay for Life Team member, said that this year it looks as though they will be able to donate even more. Mills said that the pumpkins were grown and donated by the Alamedas. Kathy is a breast cancer survivor.
For those who chose to follow the signs out into the fields, a rewarding welcoming as they were directed into the appropriate parking areas and followed the crowd into the old barn filled with pumpkins of every shape color and size. White, pink, green and yes, orange! Big, small, round, tall, decorated, or waiting to be carved.
The atmosphere was one of people helping one another and there were plenty of instances of that . . . young boys carting wheelbarrows full of pumpkins and produce, teams of volunteers helping everyone find just what they were looking for and showing some pumpkins they had never even imagined.