Handshake leads to 30-year fundraising business

It’s been more than three decades since a handshake between Richard Hamby and a Methodist minister.
The deal would alter Hamby’s personal plans and ultimately create a flourishing business.
Pumpkin Patch Fundraisers Inc., which Hamby now shares with his wife, Janice, was born 31 years ago. That’s when Hamby began “playing around with farming,” and a local minister mentioned his search for a church fundraiser.
Hamby said he had grown a little bit of everything in his next door neighbor’s yard. The minister’s need provided his first opportunity to profit from his produce.
Word spread quickly about Hamby’s pumpkin fundraising.
In 1989 Pumpkin Patch Fundrais-ers Inc., based in North Carolina, produced a large crop but lost it to Hurricane Hugo. Hamby searched for somewhere to get pumpkins for the churches that had already requested shipments.
He found a Navajo Reservation near Farmington, N.M., with more than 100,000 acres. The Navajo tribe had grown pumpkins on 200 acres but hadn’t sold them yet. The Hambys bought their pumpkins, and the tribe offered to let them grow pumpkins on their land. He’s been using the New Mexico site ever since.
Today more than 1,300 churches in 47 states sell his produce. Last year alone, the churches collectively raised $3.6 million, Hamby said.
“The neat part about this group is what we don’t sell or what rots, we don’t pay for,” said Rhonda Dippo, coordinator of the patch at University UMC, San Antonio. “We pay only for what we sell.”
Hamby said he extends large lines of credit to churches.
“It had to be that way,” he said. “When you tell people there’s no risk, the fundraising is a lot more attractive to them. When churches put up their own money, they get a little nervous. Without the pressure, they’ll be able to hold their prices and maximize their dollar.”
About 80 percent of congregations using his pumpkin fundraising are United Methodist, Hamby said, but his business provides pumpkins to several other denominations.
Churches keep 25 to 40 percent of the gross sales, depending on the volume sold, Hamby said. Churches are required to operate patches for at least 14 days.