For Immediate Release

September 28, 2010 – Put the Red Baron on standby!

Contact: Bev Carlson
Director of Public Relations
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska
(402) 978-5646
bcarlson@lfsneb.org

Omaha’s Great Pumpkin Rising Over Village Pointe!
Pumpkin tree ushers in Autumn and Awareness of Fostering & Adoption

*  GREAT VISUAL!  *

On Wednesday, September 29, volunteers will be building Omaha’s Great Pumpkin Tree at Village Pointe.

• 8:00am to 10:30am -- Engineers from Kiewit and HDR build tree structure
• 1:00pm to ??? -- Volunteers install pumpkins onto “tree”

The 17-foot structure will be fully adorned with over 600 pumpkins! Click here to see photos from last year.

The tree will be up through the month of October. Then, on the morning of October 30, volunteers will arrive early to pull all the pumpkins down and prepare them for the carvers. Carving will begin at 10:00 sharp – and by 2:00pm, the jack o’lanterns will be returned to their tree perches. The carved pumpkins will be lit from the inside—making an even more spectacular display for Halloween.

All of this “gourd” clean fun is to create awareness for the critical need for foster care and adoptive families in the Omaha area. Every year, hundreds of Nebraska children are removed from their families because of neglect and abuse. While the healing work is done, the child needs a safe, loving place to recover, which is where foster families come in.

During the 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Family Festival Weekend, parents and their children can carve their own pumpkins, as well as learn more about what it means to be a foster family. In fact, many of the “carvers” will be adoptive and foster families. You will also be able to rub shoulders with local celebrities who are donating their time.

The event is organized by members of the Forever Families Guild, which provides volunteer support to the combined children’s programs of Adoption Links Worldwide and Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska. Adoption Links Worldwide became an affiliate of LFS in June.