Food pantry receives garden grant

The Creston Area Food Pantry has received a grant to help a number of area families set up portable home gardens.

Food pantry board member Jodi Rushing shared the plan regarding these gardens.

“We’ve talked about kiddy pools and dirt, and then having them pick what things they want to grow, so if you move to a different place, you can kind of take it with you,” Rushing said. “To have those families start growing their own fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Along with providing the supplies for these gardens, Rushing hopes to involve the Iowa State University Extension’s Master Gardener Program to teach the families.

“We thought that would be a good way for them to get some of their community hours, helping these individual families, picking out what would be good, what will fit in their garden, what’s going to grow,” Rushing said. “We want to teach them in the fall how to put your bed, set it for the winter, what you need to do so you’re ready in the spring.”

While Rushing doesn’t know how much the grant is for yet, she already has one family excited to start gardening.

“I have one family so far that I’ve asked, just before we found out about our funding, and she’s like, we would love that. She has three girls, so that should be great,” Rushing said. “I’ll start getting more families when we know how much money we get.”

Rushing said this grant came at a time of great need for families in Union County. In the month of January, more than 600 households were served at the food pantry, despite only being open three of the four weeks.

Though it’s likely five families will start out with the garden, Rushing said they hope to add more families each year.

“If we can keep doing that and adding even another one or two families each year to do this, would be really impactful,” she said.

Those interested in donating to food, money or time to the Creston Area Food Pantry should call (515) 525-4428.