Bergenites Unite For Annual Pumpkin Donations

Live décor is often discarded after any holiday. Mother’s Day flowers wilt and are trashed; old Christmas trees eventually are dragged to the curb. Halloween pumpkins, however, can be a different story.

Many Bergenites put their old gourds to good use when the season wraps up, donating them to farms and animal rescues. Mahwah’s Lynne Berry, for instance, has made it her mission to collect as many pumpkins to feed the rescue pigs, goats, horses and more at Billy’s New Hope Rescue Farm in Honesdale, Pa. This past fall, she, along with a few helpful members of the community, gathered and donated 6,000 pounds of pumpkins to the farm—the most Berry’s seen since she started donating five years ago.

Berry’s passion for donating began in 2019, when she pitched in her own pumpkins after reading about the farm on Facebook. Grieving the loss of a loved one the following year, Berry sought to do more for the farm. “I knew I could easily immerse myself in sadness if I didn’t do something outside of myself,” she recalls. So, Berry turned her home into an annual pumpkin drop-off site. The initiative has grown exponentially each year: In 2023, Berry not only accepted donations from her Bergen County neighbors, but Secor Farms in Mahwah also got into the action.

“I made trips back and forth to Secor with my car, but they had so much that I called our mayor for help,” says Berry, adding that the town then sent a DPW truck to assist. From there, Berry rented a box truck and made five pumpkin-filled trips from her home to Billy’s farm.

The giving spirit exploded in 2024. In addition to the usual donations from residents, Rohsler’s Allendale Nursery came knocking and told Berry she could have all their leftover pumpkins. There were a couple of caveats: Berry, who was recovering from hernia surgery, had to retrieve them herself over the course of one weekend.

“That’s when I had to think quick, and I thought ‘let me put it out there and see what happens,’” Berry tells BERGEN. She created a Facebook post calling for volunteers to bring pumpkins from Rohsler’s to her home—and the response was overwhelming.

“People were pulling into my driveway and unloading their SUVs, and the ones I was able to talk to came from all around,” she says. “It’s like they saw the post and ran to Rohsler’s to get a carload. It was so great. The best part of it was the joy. If you could see the smiles on people’s faces as they were dropping off, it was incredible.”

The generosity didn’t end there. After all the pumpkins (6,000 pounds!) were retrieved and filled Berry’s front yard, volunteers filled cars and box trucks to transport them to Billy’s. They even got a helping hand from Ridgefield Park’s Duffy Movers—owner Kevin Duffy donated a moving truck and crew members to pitch in with the delivery.

“This year has been really one of the most community-involved, blessed thing—filled with joy, giving, laughing and loving—I have ever had the honor of being a part of,” Berry says. “And P.S.: You haven’t lived until you see a piggy smile!”

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