For the last three years throughout the month of October, employees at Washington Savings Bank have enjoyed decorating pink-themed pumpkins in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Named the Pink Pumpkin Fundraiser, this event challenges employees to come up with an idea on how to decorate a pumpkin in honor and highlighting the issue of breast cancer. The staff divides up into teams of one to six people to decorate multiple pumpkins.
Once finished, the decorated pumpkins are placed into Washington Savings Bank lobbies to grab the attention of customers, intended to remind everyone of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Then donations can be placed in a jar representing their favorite pumpkin. Over the years, the pumpkins have been decorated to look like a chicken, a gumball machine, a lion, and a hot air balloon, just to name a few.
This year’s winning pumpkins that generated the most donations included look-alike Gene from KISS, a Cinderella carriage-themed pumpkin, and a pumpkin that looks like ice cream. With Washington Savings Bank matching the funds raised from the pumpkin donations, the bank is able to donate $500 to both LeAnn’s Light (Effingham) and Sarah Bush’s Mobile Mammography Unit (Mattoon).
LeAnn’s Light provides gift cards to families who have a family member going through treatments. The SBL Mobile Mammography unit travels to communities in SBL’s 10-county service area to offer accessible mammography testing for residents.
Washington Savings Bank would like to thank the Mattoon and Effingham communities for helping make the contributions to these two organizations possible.