The oversized, award-winning pumpkins of the Roland Pumpkin Fair found new life this Halloween.

For the past six years Winnipeg's Chris Okell has secured the carving rights to the giant locally-grown gourds, raising money for a good cause at the same time.

Okell says the hardest part isn't carving the pumpkins, but transporting and putting them into place

He explains after his mom, Marietta, passed away from cancer, he wanted to honour her memory and began collecting donations for Pumpkins of Promise.

Okell transports the pumpkins after the annual Roland fair to his St. Vital home before carving and installing flood lights. He leaves a donation box outside for visitors to support Cancer Care Manitoba. This year he raised over $1,100.

"I'm just blown away at the help that I get and the amount of money we've raised due to these big pumpkins," Okell says. "I'm going to keep doing it for as long as I can."

The massive jack-o-laterns continue to attract trick-or-treaters, but have also created powerful connections with others journeying through cancer treatments. One visitor asked why he works so hard to created the carvings.

"She just looked at me and you could see her eyes well up," Okell says. The woman would go on to describe her own journey through cancer, before thanking Okell for his work each year.

"Right there and then I knew why I do it," he says.

To make a donation to Pumpkins of Promise go here:

Each gourd can weigh up to 1,000 pounds