COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A local church is recovering from the loss of dozens of pumpkins after vandals destroyed them in one night.
The Fellowship Lutheran Church on Sawmill Road lost about $1,000 worth of pumpkins to a vandal wielding a golf club, NBC 4’s Marcus Thorpe reported.
For the last ten years, the church has given back to the community using the pumpkins as a fundraiser.
The church doesn’t pocket the money raised from the pumpkins. They put it back into programs that serve those most in need.
“I saw all of it, but someone came over and helped clean things up, left a donation and a note,” said church secretary Kris Kochheiser.
The pumpkins also benefit an Indian tribe that grows and delivers them.
“Especially since we help homeless in our community the real damage is to those with special needs,” said Pastor Michael Sayre, of Fellowship Lutheran Church.
Many in the community have already answered the church’s needs –- to fill the $1,000-gap left by the vandals.
“A friend from years ago said we’d like to buy some of your invisible pumpkins. People already heard and started by stepping up,” Sayre said.
While the damage has been done, the church is ready to stick close together and carve out some hope.
“When bad happens, good happens always turns that way,” Kochheiser said.
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