Rock Rapids, Iowa — A grant that was recently awarded to Lyon County Extension and Outreach would benefit food banks in all four of the counties here in far northwest Iowa.
The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Master Gardener grants focus primarily on increasing access to healthy foods for families experiencing poverty. ISU Horticulture Educator and Regional Food Coordinator Margaret Murphy tells us how the grants came about.
Murphy says Lyon County received a grant of just over $900.
She says that Lyon County is home to one of seven demonstration gardens in the state of Iowa. That garden, which is located at the Lyon County Fairgrounds in Rock Rapids, has been designated as a “food pantry garden” this year.
Murphy says that the grant will be used to help cover the costs of harvesting, and delivering, the produce from the Lyon County garden.
She says the garden in Rock Rapids has traditionally supplied Atlas of Lyon County, a local Rock Rapids food bank, and this year hope to be able to branch out to supplying food banks like the Hull Food Pantry in Hull, Hope Food Pantry in Sioux Center, and Upper Des Moines Opportunity’s food banks in Sibley and Primghar.
Murphy says if you want to volunteer to help with this project, you can call her at her office in Rock Rapids, at 712-472-2576, or email mmurphy@iastate.edu.
