How to donate your old Jack-o'-lantern for a good cause

(Jonathan Cooper/Pexels)

Halloween may be over, but your Jack-o'-lantern could still be of use to someone.

Instead of throwing it in the garbage, the Ottawa South Eco-Action Network (OSEAN) is encouraging you to drop it off at one of their many drop-off locations in Ottawa, so they can be fed to farm animals or given to local kitchens.

"In the week following Halloween, we collect carved and intact pumpkins in Ottawa South and connect them with local farms and kitchens. In doing so, we combat food insecurity while diverting them from the city compost facility and the landfill," the group says on its website.

There are 16 drop-off locations in Ottawa for OSEAN's Pumpkins for the Planet program, including three in Gloucester-Southgate Ward, eight in River Ward, and five in Alta Vista Ward.

The pumpkins will be distributed to several local farms and organizations including:

• Debra Dynes Family House
• The Ottawa Mission
• St-Isidore Marché Full Bellies Market
• Orléans-Cumberland CRC
• CRC Rideau-Rockcliffe CRC
• The Carleton Food Collective
• Caldwell Family Centre
• Sweet William Farms
• Misfits Farmstead
• Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm
• Madahoki Farm
• Tracey Thompson
• EZ Peasy Farms

There will also be a free Pumpkin Alley Fun Day event Sunday from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Earnie Calcutt Park on Springland Drive. There will be face-painting and kids' activities, a scavenger hunt, firefighters with Obi the Dalmation, Capital Ghostbusters and hot chocolate, alongside piles of Jack-o'-lanterns that will be headed to local farms.

You can drop your pumpkin off at this event. It is also accepting cash or non-perishable food donations for the Brookfield Community Food Cupboard.

For more details about Pumpkins for the Planet, visit OSEAN's website.