Seeking a hallmark project to boost attention and money for PolioPlus during his year as governor of District 9980, Nick Wood picked pumpkins — a variety called the Atlantic Giant, to be specific.
Fifty-five Rotarians, family members, and friends competed to grow the greatest gourd from plants that Wood started and distributed beginning in late October of last year. The goal: “to have fun, and this was heaps of fun,” Wood says. The grand weigh-in in late April required a forklift when the Rotary Club of Wanaka’s winning pumpkin tipped the scales at more than 357 pounds.
With sponsors donating a set amount for each kilogram, the competition yielded more than US$31,000 at current exchange rates, topped with a District Designated Fund contribution of about $6,200, all matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The biggest success was the almost doubling of our club and personal contributions to polio from the previous year,” says Wood.