In the spirit of Halloween and breast cancer awareness, Chico State public health students put on a “Carving for Cancer” event in Trinity Commons on Friday.

At the event, students purchased pumpkins to carve on the spot or take home and carve later. All proceeds went to an organization called California Health Collaborative which has a patient support program that offers breast cancer screenings to women and men in rural counties such as Butte, Glenn, Tehama and Colusa.

Sarah Lococo, who helped run the table, explained that the spirit of the event was about the cause.

Students that couldn’t stay to carve a pumpkin were encouraged to take one with them. “It’s five bucks and if you’re wearing pink, it’s a couple of bucks off,” Lococo said.

The event was a project required by the students’ Health Education Theory and Practice class, but the group in charge seemed enthusiastic about it.

“This is what public health is about. Getting out there and spreading awareness and education,” Lococo said. “We had one woman come by saying that she was a breast cancer survivor and that she loved seeing people out here supporting what she suffered through.”

The students weren’t the only ones offering their support. Abbey Linger and Tania Enferadi explained that all of the pumpkins at the event were donated by various local retail and grocery stores.

“Grocery Outlet, Lowe’s, Safeway, Book’s Family Farm are all places that pitched in,” Enferadi said.

Kayla Stearns and Ely Schoenfield came by to support their friend from the group.

“It’s really a great cause,” Stearns said. “And we get to carve some pumpkins.”

Four different groups from the Health Education Theory and Practice class put on events. Other events included a costume walk at a local middle school and a water-lantern ceremony to honor those battling breast cancer.

“Being able to tell our message to everybody and to have people come out and support it is really awesome,” Lococo said.

Emily Neria can be reached at [email protected]