02/10/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: for further information, contact Rheannon Carlson @ 319-882-4275 or [email protected]
WAVERLY COMMUNITY SHARING GARDEN AND ORCHARD GROWS AND DONATES 14,258 POUNDS OF FRESH PRODUCE
Now in its 16th growing season, this year a total of 14,258 pounds of fresh and healthy fruit and vegetables were grown and donated to area food-insecure families by volunteers working with the Waverly Community Sharing Garden and Orchard. This has been a joint working partnership between the City of Waverly and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach-Bremer County. Since its beginning, this project has grown and donated over 131,000 pounds (65 tons). Produce has gone to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo for their 16-county client coverage, the Waverly Pantry now at Heritage Methodist Church, plus several local agencies. Managing and coordinating the project since its beginning, has been Ron Lenth, ISU Extension and Outreach Program Coordinator for Bremer County.
The vegetable garden is located on 2nd St. SW, between 5th and 6th Streets SW, while the orchard is one block south, just east of the bowling alley. There were once eight houses here that were lost to the 2008 Cedar River Flood. The idea of how to create something good out of a disaster came out of a planning program which included former Mayor Mark Anderson, retired former Waverly Leisure Services Director Tab Ray, plus others including Lenth.
This year over 600 volunteer hours were donated during the Tuesday evening and Saturday morning work sessions in all weather conditions. Waverly Exchange Club members have been a major contributor of those volunteer hours. Data from the NE Iowa Food Bank shares that one in eight Iowans face food insecurity, while one in six children face the same. As Iowa’s Nobel Peace Prize and World Food Award winner, Dr. Norman Borlaug once said, “Food is the moral right of all those who live here.”
This photo taken at the 9-11 Waverly Day of Caring shows groups harvesting 3,300 pounds of apples from the Waverly Community Sharing Orchard (part of the combined Garden and Orchard project.) Groups came from the Waverly Exchange Club, Denver Savings Bank, F & G Annuities and Life, plus another group later from the Shell Rock POET Ethanol plant.
The garden is put to rest for another season! (below)
