Ohio farmer delivers pumpkins to NJ

PATERSON (WABC) -- The sound of a happy child is exactly what Greg Clement drove 8 hours to hear.

"We're gonna put some smiles on kids faces who otherwise wouldn't have had a pumpkin for Halloween," he said.

Greg is a farmer from Ohio. A few weeks ago he was reading about how Hurricane Irene killed a good part of the pumpkin crop on the east coast.

The thought of a child without a pumpkin for Halloween was unacceptable to him.

"It's not like we are curing a disease of the world financial crisis here, but it is a good will gesture," Greg said.

His gesture: to pack this truck full of just over 2000 pumpkins.

He had plenty of help back in Ohio. Volunteers, young and old, formed a line and one by one the pumpkins were loaded.

Hundreds of miles later, another line of volunteers from the Boys and Girls Club of Paterson and Passaic unloaded the truck.

About 1,000 pumpkins were unloaded in Paterson, and the rest taken to Ringwood, where an urban farm lost its pumpkin patch during Irene. Greg heard about that too.

Two of his sons made the trip with him. They couldn't be prouder to be a part of their dad's wonderful act of kindness.

"I think it's pretty cool to be able to bring all these pumpkins here and to be able to give then away," 9-year-old Jonah said.

"I couldn't imagine a Thanksgiving or Halloween without a pumpkin. So it feels really good to bring them here," added 11-year-old Manny.

Hundreds of children will pick through the patch of pumpkins, and be that much happier this Halloween.

For Greg, that's mission accomplished!

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new jersey, passaic, paterson, hurricane irene, pumpkins, new jersey news, phil lipof

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