The Halloween spirit

Marisa O’Neil

If residents don’t get their usual free pumpkin on the doorstep this

year, Valerie Torelli wants them to know it’s for a good reason.

Each October for the past 19 years, the Costa Mesa real estate

agent has delivered about 4,000 pumpkins to homes near her Mesa Verde

office. This year, when the fates conspired to leave her

pumpkin-less, she decided to donate the money she would have spent on

them to three elementary schools.

“I’m trying to turn a negative into a positive,” Torelli said. “I

figured this is better than a pumpkin.”

Tuesday, she gave a check for $1,000 to California Elementary

Principal Jane Holm. She said she will also give $1,000 checks to

Adams and Killybrooke elementary schools, the three closest to her

office.

“We don’t receive federal funds and we’ve lost state funds,” Holm

said. “Even our donations have gone down. Every bit helps.”

Holm estimated that this year, California Elementary is operating

with $140,000 less than last year. Torelli’s check will go toward

instructional supplies for teachers, like paper, pencils and books,

she said.

Torelli’s pumpkin giveaway started out as a way to spread holiday

spirit in the neighborhood and help promote her real estate company.

“I thought it would be a fun thing to do,” she said. “It’s great

to see people’s reaction when you drop a pumpkin on their doorsteps.”

Logistical problems kept her pumpkin supplier from delivering the

festive gourds on time last weekend, however, and she didn’t relish

the idea of crossing supermarket picket lines with her workers to buy

out the local pumpkin supply.

She decided that local students and teachers should benefit

instead.

“If someone really wants their pumpkin, they can call me,” she

said. “I’ll still get them one.”