SERIAL charity fundraiser Mark Lee is growing a pumpkin patch for the benefit of the Skibbereen Community and Family Resource Centre.
Mark (42) has been working at family business, Skibbereen Garden Centre on the Tragumna Road, for the last 26 years.
‘This will be my first year, as an adult, growing pumpkins,’ said Mark.
ADVERTISEMENT
‘When I was 13, I grew them commercially for four years and sold them to Drinagh, Field’s and Scannell’s, as well as at our own garden centre.’
Mark took his cumulative earnings of €6,300, over the four years, and used it to buy his first ever work van in 2001.
He organised his first charity event in 2021, when he raised €800 for West Cork Animal Welfare, and the Air Ambulance, via an Easter Egg Hunt and Christmas photo op sitting on Santa’s sleigh, which Mark, a handy carpenter, built during the pandemic.
The following year, Mark and the team at the garden centre raised €2,384 for Make a Wish Ireland.
In 2023, €3,758 was donated to West Cork Down Syndrome and in 2024, €4,328 was given to Cancer Connect Bantry.
Last year, €6,105 was donated to the committee working to improve the amenities at Skibbereen Playground.
So far this year, the Easter Egg Hunt was attended by 90 children over three days and it raised €700.
The next event will take place at the garden centre on Saturday October 10th, Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th, Saturday 24th, and Sunday 25th.
For €15, a child gains entry to the mini-maze and the pumpkin patch, where they can choose their own pumpkin, before joining their friends for a beverage at the garden centre’s Potting Shed café.
In May, one-third of an acre at the rear of the centre was cultivated, and the pumpkins were set across six rows with grass paths in between.
Visitors will be able to pick their pumpkins ahead of Halloween and take a seasonal photograph with a small gathering of scarecrows created by Mark.
‘In the event of bad weather, part of the patch will be sheltered,’ said Mark, who hopes the pumpkin patch will raise more than €2,000 for the family resource centre.
