Caring Hands plans accessible community garden

Context: The nonprofit is known for operating a food pantry and thrift store in town, but as the organization has evolved, she says they also want to empower nearby residents by offering an educational space where they can get hands-on experience.

• "We're very much looking to ensure that being able to sit, engage, roll up to it, or somehow be involved in it isn't one of the more massive barriers to you engaging," she tells Axios about the garden.

State of play: Caring Hands owns several acres of land neighboring Lions Park, where Eggers says they envision the garden growing, including building raised beds accessible to wheelchair users and people using walkers.

• The land is also near a runoff area, so they plan to build a rainwater collection system that includes filters to prevent waste from running into the watershed.

• Eggers says they want to eventually connect the garden's parking lot to Lions Park's trails and serve as a trailhead.
• They received grant funding from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to help build the project.

What's next: They plan to complete the first phase of the project, which includes 10 to 18 raised garden beds, by fall 2027.