Halloween—The Purple Pumpkin Project

Halloween is coming up.  In American culture, that means dressing up and trick-or-treating.  Ghouls, goblins, witches roaming the streets one spooky night.  The reward of a bulging bag of candy after a night’s work is satisfying. 

Carving the pumpkin to make Jack ‘o Lanterns are just as important.  There is
a new Halloween tradition for epilepsy awareness—The Purple Pumpkin Project (http://www.epilepsy.com/make-difference/get-involved/purple-pumpkin-project).  It got started in Connecticut in 2012 by Ron Lamontagne.  His 4-year-old son had epilepsy and he was brainstorming ideas to create awareness.  He came up with Painting Your Pumpkin Purple, as purple is the official color of epilepsy.

It has caught on in many areas, and through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Purple.Pumpkin.Project) and other social media, word is spreading about it.  People will be asking, “Why is your pumpkin purple?”  And this will start a dialogue about epilepsy.  This will lead into November, which is Epilepsy Awareness Month.  Our campaign of education will go full steam ahead.