Community rallies for Joliet school to bring pumpkin farm to the students

Joliet — Special education teachers at Sator Sanchez Elementary School in Joliet had planned to take students to a pumpkin farm as a fall field trip this month.

When the trip posed logistical problems, one teacher rallied community support to bring the pumpkin farm to them.

For the past three years, Jacey Desmarais, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher for Joliet Public Schools District 86′s Adaptive Behavior Communication program, has brought in small, homegrown pumpkins and gourds for her students around Halloween.

“It started as an accident,” she laughed. “My kids and I just threw our old pumpkins in the yard after Halloween one year, and we got a fun surprise when the seeds sprouted. This year, they just didn’t come up.”

In lieu of bringing in homegrown pumpkins for her students, Desmarais originally planned with Principal Loretta Gutierrez to coordinate a field trip for the school’s 94 ABC students, who are all diagnosed with autism, to visit a local pumpkin farm.

“We realized the logistics were going to be a problem though,” Desmarais said. “We have a lot of kids with a mixture of behaviors, and we’ve got a few runners, and we worried that it could be a safety issue, so I thought, ‘What if we could bring the pumpkin farm here?’”

I was in tears when I told our principal what had happened. Everyone came together to expand my little idea into so much more.”

—  Jacey Desmarais, kindergarten and first-grade teacher in Joliet Public Schools District 86

Desmarais put out a call on Facebook to the Joliet Friends and Neighbors community group asking for donations of about 100 small pie pumpkins to use for the event and was met with more than 200 likes and comments offering assistance.

“The outpouring of support was wonderful,” Desmarais said. “Heap’s Pumpkin Farm [in Minooka] said they would donate 20 pie pumpkins, and Walt Konow [of Konow’s Corn Maze in Homer Glen] reached out and said he would give me 100 small, carveable pumpkins, which are bigger than the pie pumpkins. He said, ‘Let’s make this the real deal.’”

In addition to the pumpkins, Konow also has offered to bring multiple giant pumpkins, bales of straw and cornstalks in a trailer to Sator Sanchez on Oct. 18 to recreate the look of a pumpkin farm.

“It was so wonderful and kind of him to offer,” Desmarais said. “[It’s] so meaningful that he’s actually going to bring it to us and set it all up.”

“I have a special-needs son, so anything involving special-needs, kids we try to get involved,” said Homer Glen Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike, who helps manage charitable programs for Konow’s Corn Maze. “We used to have a Special Needs Day in fall, but it got too big to manage, so now Mr. Konow just sticks to donations. He donates a lot to different charities, and we like to help when schools reach out to us.”

More than just pumpkins

In addition to the pumpkin donations, other community members offered services to make the afternoon more fun for the students.

Gatica Creationz in Joliet has offered to provide a backdrop for photo ops and balloon arrangements, while Marissa Kaye and Amy Sanchez, who are relatives of the school’s namesake Sator Sanchez, offered to donate craft supplies that the students can use to decorate their pumpkins.

“It was a simple idea, but the community really brought it together,” Desmarais said. “I was in tears when I told our principal what had happened. Everyone came together to expand my little idea into so much more.”

The 10 ABC classes, which include kindergarten to fifth-grade students from the district, will be brought out to the field behind the school to the makeshift pumpkin farm one at a time to pick their pumpkins and take photos.

Students then will be brought back inside to decorate them, something teachers now will be able to help demonstrate thanks to the extra pumpkin donations.

“We wanted to make it as safe as possible for our kiddos, and this is a nice opportunity being able to do it in a smaller, more-contained environment,” Desmarais said. “The parents are always appreciative for these kinds of events that let their kids experience things in the community with their peers. It’s really cool.”

More information will be forthcoming for the parents, including details about activities that will be offered and an invitation to attend and take photos of their students.

“We’re so grateful to Heap’s and Konow’s and everyone else who has volunteered,” Desmarais said. “We appreciate our community and how quick they were to help. Thanks to them, our kiddos are going to have a wonderful day. We’re so excited and so appreciative.”