God’s Garden

by Jeff Geerts

For many years now Westminster Presbyterian Church has undertaken many efforts in the community to address local food insecurity. One such effort is God’s Garden.

God’s Garden began in 2013 with establishment of our first garden plot in land provided by Calvin Community. For three years God’s Garden at Calvin Community produced hundreds of pounds of fresh produce for local Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) food pantries. Over time, fresh produce from God’s Garden became available on Sunday mornings following church services. Cash donations received for the produce on Sunday mornings was also donated to DMARC, resulting in hundreds of dollars per year to support DMARC’s mission of meeting basic human needs in central Iowa.

In 2016, as Calvin Community began planning a large expansion: God’s Garden relocated to Gary and Carol Dicks’ backyard (thank you, Gary and Carol) as well as to the parking lot island area on the west side of the church, next to our garage. God’s Garden continued in those locations for a couple of years.

God’s Garden partnered with Lutheran Services in Iowa in 2018, to repurpose an underutilized 1/4 acre portion of our northwest parking lot, into a new community garden for refugee families seeking an opportunity to share their gardening culture with their children and the community. Today God’s Garden provides 20 garden plots for refugee families, and two plots for Westminster to produce approximately 20-50 pounds of fresh produce weekly for DMARC throughout the summer, while also generating much-needed financial resources for DMARC, through fresh produce cash donations received from church-service attendees on Sunday mornings.