It was a whirlwind couple of weeks that brought Newmarket students Sebastian Stanescu and Aryan Sadghian into the world of charity.
After gathering a surprising 3,300 pounds of pumpkin waste for charity last year, the duo wanted to keep up that charitable spirit.
After following the pumpkin event with a charity dinner, the young philanthropists decided to formalize their ongoing efforts for charity with a name: The Pumpkin Boys.
“We said, ‘OK, there’s something there. We can clearly have an impact in the community and do good things.’ And we said, ‘All right, let’s keep trying.’”
The Pumpkin Boys are launching their next charity event Monday, Aug. 19 in support of the York Region Food Network. They will host a charity barbecue at Market Brewing at 6 p.m., with all proceeds going toward the food bank organization.
The Pumpkin Boys have expanded to have a core team of five members, Stanescu said. They have also started as a registered business, though all of their profits go to charity, with the non-profit designation having more hurdles to clear first.
“You don’t have to be some crazy large organization. You don’t have to have a lot of funding. We don’t have any money,” he said.
Stanescu said they are passionate about issues such as food waste and scarcity, making the York Region Food Network a good cause to support.
“It’s just because of the wide-reaching effects that they have in the community, in terms of addressing food insecurity, addressing a lot of food waste,” he said. “From a personal level, they were some of the nicest people we’ve had a chance to interact with.”
The group plans to once again hold a pumpkin collection drive in the fall, plus a holiday dinner fundraiser near the Christmas season.
For this barbecue, he said they hope to create a good atmosphere.
“Having a barbecue, lawn games, things like that, I think that will contribute to just having an overall very enjoyable, casual, relaxing day,” he said.
Tickets for the event are available at eventbrite.ca/e/charity-summer-bbq-social-tickets-936573505567?aff=oddtdtcreator
