Get your fresh veggies here

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

There were potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, broccoli and more.

Free fresh vegetables were given away to whoever wanted them on Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church in Charles City and two other locations, at South Cedar Terrace and Morningside Apartments.

The free fresh produce, all from local gardens, will be available again this Saturday. The veggies are being donated through the Growing Iowa Together program, which received a grant through the ISU Extension Service, as well as Master Gardeners and SNAP funding.

In just the first hour Saturday morning at Trinity, nearly 100 individuals and 45 households got a bag of vegetables. The Trinity site alone had given away more than 500 pounds of potatoes and 182 pounds of produce between 10 and 11 a.m.

Susan Jacob, a Master Gardener who applied for the grant, said that the total number of individuals served was 192 at the Trinity and South Cedar locations. More were served at Morningside, although she didn’t have the exact numbers from that location.

More than 700 pounds of food was given away. People raising food in the Clark Street Community Garden, FFA students who are raising food in their gardens at the fairgrounds, and anyone else with extra produce from their own gardens is welcome to donate to the distribution. Produce should be washed and brought to Trinity United Methodist Church Saturday between 9 and 10 a.m.

The Growing Iowa Together program was set up to provide help, education and space to get people into gardening in Charles City. The plan had been that extra produce would be donated to the local Messiah’s Food Pantry.

However, the pantry has been closed because of COVID-19 concerns and has only been distributing food by appointment or delivery. The Northeast Iowa Food Bank from Waterloo has been sending trucks to Charles City about once a month to distribute food to people who qualify.