We couldn’t do this without our volunteers. While we’re lucky to have Master Gardeners on our team, no gardening experience is required—just a big heart and a good work ethic. If you can pull a weed, carry a watering can, or share a smile, there’s a place for you in the garden.

We always need help with:

• Watering and weeding

• Mulching and mowing

• Planting and harvesting

• Learning (or teaching!) side-by-side with Master Gardeners

Whether you're an individual looking to give back, a family wanting to volunteer together, or a workplace team looking for a hands-on service opportunity, our gardens offer something for everyone—plus plenty of sunshine and fresh air.

Want to lend a hand? We’d love to have you in the garden.
To learn more or sign up to volunteer, click here or contact Brenda Jones at b.jones@wapellocouw.org or 641-682-1264.

Every tomato, zucchini, and green bean grown in our gardens goes directly to those in need across our community. Produce is distributed through:

• Local food pantries

• The Food Bank of Iowa

• Soup kitchens

• VA Mobile Food Pantry

• River Hills and SIEDA lobbies

• Garden share stands open to the public

Our gardens are also living classrooms, where kids and adults alike can get their hands in the dirt and learn how food grows.

We host educational workshops on topics like:

• Making fresh salsa and healthy meals with garden produce

• Sustainable gardening, canning, and composting

• Pollinator protection and habitat creation

We regularly welcome students from 4-H, FFA, and other youth programs for hands-on experiences in the garden, helping them connect the dots between agriculture, nutrition, and community service.

Our gardens don’t just grow food—they help restore the balance of our local ecosystem. We’re proud to take part in pollinator protection efforts, including raising and releasing monarch butterflies and growing native pollinator plants.

Pollinators like butterflies, bees, and native insects are in serious decline due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. Monarch butterflies, in particular, are now considered endangered, with population numbers dropping by more than 80% in recent decades.

In the wild, only about 5% of monarchs survive from egg to mature butterfly. But with careful care and protection, we can help improve their odds. In our Monarch Butterfly Project, we nurture monarchs from egg to chrysalis to butterfly, achieving a survival rate closer to 50% before releasing them into the wild. This project is done in conjunction with MonarchWatch.org, a national organization dedicated to the conservation, education, and research of monarch butterflies. Visitors can explore their website to learn more about the mission and how they can help protect this iconic species.

We also plant and maintain native pollinator habitats in and around our gardens—milkweed, echinacea, bee balm, and other essential plants—to provide food and shelter for pollinators throughout the growing season.

Our pollinator efforts include more than just butterflies. We also keep honeybees at our Community Food Pantry Garden. These vital pollinators help boost yields in the garden and play a key role in the health of our local ecosystem. We are deeply grateful to Sarah Ziegler with Ziegler's Bad Cow Bee Yard, who generously donated one of our bee colonies and continues to support our work with pollinators. Each season, we harvest raw honey from the hives and sell it locally to help fund garden operations and further our conservation efforts.

We closely partner with the Wapello County ISU Extension Office to support our pollinator project, our Growing Together Garden, and a wide range of educational efforts. Through this partnership, students in 4-H and FFA gain hands-on learning experiences by volunteering directly in the gardens. The Extension Office also provides expert-led classes and events for all ages. You can read educational articles, check out upcoming courses and community events, and explore programs like Master Gardeners and 4-H at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/wapello/.

We invite children, families, and school groups to witness the monarch life cycle up close, helping inspire the next generation of conservationists.

By protecting pollinators, we protect our food system—and our future.

If you can’t volunteer in the dirt, you can still make a powerful impact from wherever you are. Your financial gift helps us plant, nurture, and deliver fresh, locally grown produce to neighbors in need. Every dollar you give helps our garden—and our community—thrive.

💵 Just $20 provides approximately 100 meals, based on the Food Bank of Iowa average of $0.20 per meal.

But the need is great—and growing.

📊 The Growing Reality of Hunger in Wapello County and Iowa

• In Wapello County, approximately 15.2% of residents—that’s about 5,340 people—experience food insecurity, a rate significantly higher than the state average of 12%.
  (Source: Food Bank of Iowa)

• Over 24% of children in Wapello County struggle with food insecurity—nearly 1 in 4 kids.
  (Source: Alice Report - United Way of Wapello County)

• Across Iowa, 1 in 8 adults and 1 in 6 children face food insecurity.
  (Source: Feeding America – Map the Meal Gap)

At the same time, nearly 39% of households in Wapello County are either living in poverty or fall into the ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) category—working families who still struggle to afford basic necessities like food, transportation, and housing.
(Read more from the ALICE Report)

🥕 Your Gift Makes the Garden—and the Goodness—Grow

Every donation helps us:

• 🌽 Provide fresh, nutritious produce to local food pantries, soup kitchens, V.A. programs, and free neighborhood share stands.

• 🐝 Sustain educational workshops and our pollinator conservation projects, including butterfly habitat restoration and honeybee hives.

• 👩‍🌾 Engage students and families in hands-on learning through 4-H, FFA, and community events.

• 🚛 Expand our capacity to meet rising hunger with dignity, nutrition, and care.

🍅 Impact Examples

• $20 = 100 nutritious meals

• $50 = 250 meals

• $100 = 500 meals

🌻 Whether you're sowing a single seed or filling an entire row, your generosity feeds more than bellies—it grows hope.

👉 Donate today to help us cultivate change, nourish neighbors, and grow a more food-secure Wapello County. Because UNITED is the way forward.