Mini grants awarded to Benton, Iowa Counties

AMES — In the midst of record setting food pantry usage throughout the state, Growing Together Iowa mini grants will provide fresh produce and nutrition education to pantries in 2025 through Iowa State University Extension and Outreach's SNAP-Education program.

Growing Together Iowa mini grants have been funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s SNAP-Education since 2016. This year, additional funding for Growing Together Iowa is provided by Iowa Total Care, a provider of Medicaid health care coverage in Iowa and a Centene Corporation company.

Benton County received a grant to maintain a large urban farm-turned community donation garden and coordinate gleaning efforts that will benefit area food pantries and early education centers with a goal of donating 15,000 pounds.

Iowa County received a grant to expand the donation garden with additional raised beds planted with vegetables and herbs to support the Williamsburg school food pantry. In addition, a variety of gardening and nutrition events for food pantry clients will be provided throughout the summer.

ISU Extension and Outreach Master Gardener volunteers plant donation gardens with partners, support their communities with plant-a-row programs to get more produce into food pantries and glean fresh produce from farmers markets and home gardeners.

All produce is donated to local food pantries, food banks and other food distribution sites with accompanying nutrition education materials.

In 2024, projects donated over 103,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to 102 food pantries and distribution sites serving 87,000 Iowans. Almost 1,500 volunteers, including 301 Master Gardener volunteers, contributed time to the gardens.

Other counties receiving the grants are Black Hawk, Bremer, Clinton, Dallas, Dickinson, Dubuque, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Jasper, Linn, Lyon, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Muscatine, O’Brien, Page, Polk, Scott, Story, Tama, Wapello, Washington, Webster.