FAIRFIELD – A team of volunteers is about to finish construction on a shed inside the new Fairfield Community Garden at O.B. Nelson Park.

The shed is being funded by the Fairfield Rotary and Fairfield Interact clubs, and being built entirely with volunteer labor. John Loin, a member of Fairfield Rotary, is leading the construction, and he said the shed will be finished this coming weekend of April 6-7.

The shed will be used to store tools and wheelbarrows, and possibly rain barrels, for the garden’s members. Loin said construction on the shed began Friday, March 29 and continued Saturday, March 30.

“We put a few hours in Friday, and by Saturday we didn’t have a lot to do so we finished at 2:15 p.m. Plus, I didn’t want to miss the Iowa basketball game,” Loin said, referring to the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team’s game against Colorado that day.

The volunteers got the frame up that weekend, and now the structure needs a roof and metal siding. Loin said Keosauqua Lumber is giving the group a discount on materials.

Loin said he first heard about the Fairfield Community Garden last fall when Barbara Rainbow, the garden’s project leader, gave a talk about the garden to the Fairfield Rotary Club. Loin wanted to get Rotary involved, and they decided that the club would contribute toward the construction of a new shed, and that he would lead the construction. Loin, Rainbow and Fairfield Sustainability Coordinator Faith Reeves then worked on a design.

“In Rotary, we do a lot of international projects, and it’s always nice to do local projects, too, to circulate our funds locally,” Loin explained. “It didn’t take a lot of brain power to do, and it will go a long way in helping out a whole garden.”

Fairfield Interact, Rotary’s youth arm, has contributed volunteer labor at the garden, too. Members helped create the garden when it was getting off the ground last fall, and a few members gathered last weekend to plant 12 native bushes around the outside of the garden’s fence. The group’s advisor, Beth Alonso, said the club donated $300 toward the project.

“The bushes will have flowers in the spring and have pretty colors in the fall,” she said. “They’ll be resistant to deer and rabbits, and won’t need a lot of care.”

Alonso is a member of the Fairfield Gardeners’ Coalition Facebook group, and that’s how she learned about the Fairfield Community Garden.

“I thought it sounded like fun, and our group likes doing hands-on projects,” Alonso said. “Barbara Rainbow gave a presentation to the Interact Club a few months ago, and that’s when we got the idea to donate plants and help out at the garden.”

The Interact Club has more than 20 members ranging in age from 12-18. They try to do at least one project or community service activity per month, and sometimes do two or three. The group meets weekly at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Harmony Building at 414 N. 3rd St.

Alonso said some of the kids continue with the program after high school by joining Rotaract, Rotary’s collegiate chapter. Some of them stay involved with Rotary through Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, a leadership camp over the summer.

Another way that Fairfield Rotary connects with young people is through its Swedish exchange program. The program alternates between sending two young adults from Fairfield to Sweden, and hosting two young adults from Sweden in Fairfield. Last year, Fairfield residents Sara Quevedo-Valls and Jack Unger visited Sweden, so this year it’s Fairfield Rotary’s turn to host two Swedes. Alonso said people who are interested in hosting the Swedes, or who want to inquire about participating in the exchange next year, can contact her on her cell phone at 641-919-7390.

Rotary also awards scholarships to high school seniors from Fairfield High School and Maharishi School. Alonso said the club is receiving scholarship applications now, and it plans to award $2,000 to four recipients this spring.