Project Pumpkin, an annual event sponsored by the Wake Forest University Volunteer Service Corps, will bring more than 1,200 disadvantaged children to campus for an afternoon of Halloween fun Thursday, Oct. 29, from 3-6 p.m.
Costumed student volunteers will escort each child through residence halls for trick-or-treating. Student organizations will sponsor carnival booths, face-painting, step shows, haunted houses and other entertainment. Most events will take place between Wait Chapel and Reynolda Hall.
Nearly 1,500 Wake Forest students will help with Project Pumpkin. In the past, more than 35 social service agencies have participated, including the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs and the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem.
“Now in its tenth year, Project Pumpkin has touched not only the lives of the thousands of children who have come to campus, but also the lives of devoted student volunteers who give of themselves to make this event a success each year,” says senior Michael Warren, chairman of Project Pumpkin. “Project Pumpkin encourages students to live out the Wake Forest motto, Pro Humanitate – for the good of humanity.”
Food Lion will again donate more than 70,000 pieces of candy for the event.
Started in 1989 by a student, Project Pumpkin is one of several activities of the university’s Volunteer Service Corps, which regularly serves the community of Winston-Salem.
In addition to the day’s festivities, Project Pumpkin volunteers will visit participating agencies throughout the month of October. The “agency plunges” allow students to interact more with the children before they arrive on campus and encourages volunteerism beyond the one-day event.
Categories: Community, Events, Student
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