- A parent at the Steinhatchee School organized a pumpkin patch for students and families.
- A local produce stand donated more than 200 pumpkins.
- Watch the video to hear parents describe what this day meant to their children.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Bringing the fall feeling and spirit of community to one neighborhood still in recovery.
A pumpkin patch is doing just that for families in recovery from Helene.
This is Cierra Harden's first grade class.
The Teacher-of-the-Year at the Steinhatchee School is from this community and said a lot of the families are still dealing with the impacts of Hurricane Helene.
"A lot of children in this community are now living in campers or living in the motel because their house was so badly damaged," Harden said.
That's why parent Hannah Curry made a Facebook post, asking the community to donate pumpkins.
A produce stand donated more than 200 of them to be exact.
"My own kids woke up this morning and said it's pumpkin patch day," Curry said.
She said they did this to bring fall spirit to the kids.
"We basically just wanted to provide something that took their minds off of it, a bit of normalcy," Curry said. "We want to take a little stress off the parents. Everybody wants their kids to go to a pumpkin patch every year and with this, it came to them."
That's exactly what Harden said it is doing.
"This is something that they can enjoy right here and it gets their mind off of everything that's happened," Harden said.
It's something that other families also had a chance to enjoy when school let out and the patch opened up to everyone Friday.
For families in need of support, resources like food and help from state agencies are available at the Steinhatchee Community Center and Keaton Beach Boat Ramp.
