How to run a Pumpkin Rescue I Hubbub

HOW TO RUN A PUMPKIN RESCUE Squashing food waste

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HELLO If you’re looking for inspiration on things you can do that are good for you and the environment, you’ve come to the right place.

We’re a charity that creates environmental campaigns with a difference. We’re positive and design playful campaigns that inspire people to make healthier, greener lifestyle choices, which more often than not help save money and bring people together.

We concentrate on things people are passionate about and are relevant day-to-day, like fashion, food, homes and neighbourhoods. We keep things simple, offering practical and realistic solutions that help people to cut waste, make clothes last longer, save money and create cleaner spaces to live and work in.

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CONTENTS W H AT A R E T H E Y A R E W H Y RUN ONE

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PYO PUMPKIN RESCUE

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FIND YOUR PUMPKIN ARMY

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GET THE MESSAGE OUT

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W H AT A R E T H E Y AND WHY RUN ONE A #PumpkinRescue festival is a celebration of food which introduces new skills and carves up Halloween conventions to encourage people to think about the food they throw away. On average we waste a terrifying 18,000 tonnes of pumpkin at Halloween alone, so we use the pumpkin spooky staple as a prop to raise awarness and change behaviours.

Hosting a Pumpkin Rescue festival is an excellent way to bring local groups together to take a quick, effective stand on reducing food waste.

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The average UK family wastes £70 a month by throwing away food that could’ve been eaten = A UK total of 7.1 millon tonnes

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1 tonne of food diverted from landfill = 0.5 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent saved.

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The water and resources used to grow this food equally goes to waste.

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Whether you’re a local authority, a food or community group, a school or just a keen individual, join, together we can stop our pumpkins going through a rough patch after Halloween.

Since its launch in Oxford in 2014, Pumpkin Rescue has taken the UK by storm. In 2015 Pumpkin Rescue was taken on by 25 UK towns and even crossed oceans to the USA and Asia. In 2016 there were over 40 community festivals across the UK, and 126 events.

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‘Overall a great success- it was brilliant to be a part of this, we hope to do another event next year and more other types of workshops in the meantime!’

Foodini Club, Brighton​ ‘We hit a variety of goals, including encouraging people to waste less, getting people together, skill-sharing, healthy eating, teaching children about food waste and cooking, promoting Doncaster’s great food offer and most importantly, spreading a bit of happiness’.

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council​ ‘This was a great event and the feedback from parents was great, I look forward to doing it again next year’.

South Derbyshire District Council​ We ran out of recipe cards on Sunday afternoon. They were popular & also generated conversation about how to use the pumpkin flesh. We would certainly like some again next year.’

The Tacons Pumpkin Farm, Norfolk​ ‘The public response to the event was extremely positive. A great deal of people said they would use their pumpkin flesh when carving their own pumpkin three days later. And everyone loved the food!

Perth and Kinross Council

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PYO PUMPKIN RESCUE Pumpkin Rescue events come in all different shapes and sizes, based on how much time and energy you have. It could be a simple dinner with friends to a full-blown festival. Here are some examples of different activities you can do for your Pumpkin Rescue. Whatever you chose to do, we’ll help you to shout about it online.

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PICK YOUR ACTIVITIES

IN THE RUN UP TO, OR OVER HALLOWEEN •

A ‘gleaning’ or food surplus collection session – explore local farms or famer’s markets. What can you source for the pot?

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Cooking lessons – a delicious chance for skills sharing and learning

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Group pumpkin carving – collect the pumpkin guts to cook and share A speaker event – draw in local influencers, experts and groups to talk about food waste, the local food scheme, biodiversity or related sustainable food issue

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Pumpkin growing competitions

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Kid friendly cooking sessions

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Pumpkin Farm visits with recipe ideas

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Recipe competitions, recipe sharing online and physical

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A mass pumpkin soup – a communal meal that serves up food from surplus ingredients. Ever had ambitions to get into the Guinness Book of World Records? Now is your time to try!

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‘Ready Steady Cook’ pumpkin or ‘Come Dine with Me’ style events

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Guess the weight of the pumpkin

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Kid’s trails

ON OR AFTER HALLOWEEN •

Composting sessions – get community gardens or allotments in on the action.

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Pumpkin Drop-offs

ONLINE •

We have recipes

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We have tips

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We have events going on near you

C O N S I D E R AT I O N S FINDING PUMPKINS •

Most events to date have had pumpkins donated from stores, farms and markets. If you are asking for large quantities, then you may be best asking for the donation on or after Halloween. However, we’ve found most places willing to donate 20 or so to a good cause in the run up.

Why not offer them some good publicity online and Pumpkin Rescue recipe cards to hand out?

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It goes without saying that pumpkin farms are pretty busy in the run up to Halloween but often have an excess from the day itself. Great if you can come to some kind of an agreement.

Pick Your Own Pumpkin Farms are often keen to be a part of the movement. Can you name them as campaign partners and provide them with recipe cards in exchange?

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COOKING WORKSHOPS + DINNERS •

There are a number of ways to play this. You could get adventurous by exploring pumpkin through one cuisine, for example, running an Italian or Indian themed pumpkin class. Pumpkins are a staple of many global cuisines.

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Or you can keep it cheap, healthy and simple. For example, a template for a simple child and parent friendly cooking workshop for pumpkin soup is included in the ‘Kid’s’ file in the resource pack.

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Classes can start with carving pumpkins, before you communally cook their guts. Or you could celebrate the range of splendid and seasonal squash and gourds on the market at the moment. They are tough to carve but taste great.

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Alternately, you might want to think Ready, Steady, Cook or have a group share their favourite pumpkin dishes.

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Finally evening ‘Pumpkin Pop-ups’ hosted by local talent are a great fundraiser.

COMMUNITY FEASTS •

You might have ambitions to feed 1000, but 20 is also plenty. If you have the skills and facilities locally then rustling up a feast from food surplus is a great way to engage people with the issues of food waste. Let them eat and digest the message. You could dish it out for free or add a ‘Pay What You Feel’ element.

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Community feasts are best when supported with recipe handouts, competitions (such as guess the weight of the pumpkin vs the weight of a household’s weekly average food waste), stalls displaying the beautiful diversity of pumpkins, squash and gourds, music, games and face-painting. In essence, support your feast with whatever floats your boat and feels like an appropriate celebration of local seasonal food.

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If you would like advice on planning something, large scale, drop us a line and we would be happy to help.

COMPOSTING IS KING •

Huge amounts (approx. 150 kg per household per year) of organic waste can be diverted from disposal by home composting. Pumpkins are a timely, heavy hook to talk about food waste year-round.

Composting workshops have gone down well post-Halloween, especially when people are invited to bring a drooping pumpkin to pop on the compost heap post Halloween. Needless to say, it’s a great way to increase footfall to a community garden.

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If you don’t want to go the whole hog with composting workshops, advertising a community garden compost heap for a pumpkin drop-off might be something that you want to consider.

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FIND YOUR PUMPKIN ARMY Bring on support from volunteers and explore collaborations with local groups and businesses who may also want to take positive action for the environment and the community. Here are some suggestions on how to get others on gourd.

S E E K C O L L A B O R AT O R S A Pumpkin Rescue lends itself well to collaboration because it provides the opportunity for organisations to create their own events and input into the overarching programme. For example one group may wish to run a composting workshop, while another may want to hold a talk on the issues surrounding food waste or food poverty in the UK. 1. Who in the area needs to know about the event? (Local Council, Community Groups, Press, the town crier? (Metaphorically and literally speaking).

2. Who might want to know about the event? (Youth groups, community markets, local producers).

3. Is anyone locally already working on similar issues?

4. Who can amplify the impact of your festival? (All of the above!)

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To attract volunteers, provide a summary of the event and highlight what’s in it for the volunteers (fun, experience, meeting new people, free food). Estimate the minimum time you expect of them, dates, timings and other factors to help volunteers make a quick decision.

Ask them to send you a little information about their interests, experience, mobile phone number (for the day) and email

GET A VOLUNTEER W H AT S A P P GROUP ON THE GO FOR THE EVENT

address. Make sure you set up a trusty Excel spreadsheet and hold on to all of their details. Getting an idea of the volunteer’s interests should help you to determine who’ll be suited to which task. Try and flesh out in advance what you will need in terms of manpower. Will you also have van power? If not, think about hiring one now …if you’re thinking about lugging pumpkins about.

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GET THE MESSAGE OUT Any events or activities that come under the Pumpkin Rescue umbrella should fit in with the fun, collaborative and community based messaging which encourages the reduction of food waste and the growing of skills. Hubbub can provide templates for everything from social media posts and banners, to event posters, logos, recipe cards and programme schedules. Despite the tangents that individual events may go off on, all communications need to have the same starting point and designed materials need to have a common imagery.

SYNCING YOUR MESSAGING If you’re collaborating with a number of groups you may want to hold an event messaging session so you can all agree your key messages and align your communications.

A few further tips on linking up with the wider campaign so you can increase your reach: 1. Use the hashtag and tagline that has worked well at past events: ‘Let’s squash food waste, #PumpkinRescue’.

2. Have a strong narrative which tells the story behind the event.

3. Have catchy names for your events and headlines: keep it short, use humour (and slip in the odd pun, but watch out it’s addictive) and think about what’s in it for your audience?

Above all, make sure your messaging is positive and upbeat!

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