FRESNO, Calif. — As Fresno Unified faces questions over field-trip funding, a Madera business owner is trying to make sure students still have the chance to get out of the classroom this fall.
Joey Olvera, the organizer behind Madera Pumpkin Patch, has launched a sponsorship drive to help pay for Fresno Unified students to take field trips to the Madera Fairgrounds.
Community members and businesses can sponsor an individual student, a classroom, a bus or an entire school trip. Students would be able to take part in pumpkin-patch activities, hayrides, a corn maze and other hands-on learning experiences.
“It just hit me like, wow,” Olvera said. “Even if they weren’t coming to my pumpkin patch when they said little kids are not going to be able to go to any kind of field trips, I was like, ‘Okay, well, we got to make something happen no matter what.’”
Madera Pumpkin Patch has hosted student field trips in the past. Olvera said businesses began reaching out, looking for ways to help Fresno Unified students, and that a handful have already committed to sponsoring trips.
Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla praised the sponsorship effort.
“We’re dealing with this issue locally with the school district and cutting the funding and yet, as always, our community is so great to step up and lend a helping hand and say, we want to be able to give our students these experiences. So, just thank you to them, and to whoever else. We had a number of folks that reached out and just filling in the gaps. Even when we don’t need to, or we shouldn’t have to, I should say, they’re still willing to do so. That’s just a great testament to folks in this community,” Bonilla said.
Madera Pumpkin Patch opens October 22 and runs through October 31 at the Madera Fairgrounds.
Anyone interested in sponsoring a field trip can reach out to Madera Pumpkin Patch directly through Instagram or the contact number on the flyer below:
Madera Pumpkin Patch seeks sponsors for Fresno Unified student field trips. (Photo: Madera Pumpkin Patch)