Council Bluffs Boys & Girls Club students sit up front as Iowa Total Care Community Relations Coordinator Matthew Beitelspacher, third from right at top, cuts the ribbon at CreekTop Gardens, a community garden run by local nonprofit The 712 Initiative, on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. That afternoon, The 712 Initiative announced a partnership with Iowa Total Care, which will help educate local students on how to grow food and give them access to fresh produce.
From left, The 712 Initiative CEO Sheryl Garst and Iowa Total Care Community Relations Coordinator Matthew Beitelspacher and Manager of Community Relations and Outreach Peggy Mongar pose for a portrait at CreekTop Gardens, a community garden run by local nonprofit The 712 Initiative, on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. Iowa Total Care announced a partnership with The 712 Initiative during an event at the garden that afternoon, where they provided financial support to help educate local students on how to grow food and give them access to fresh produce.
Aubrey Slaughter, 8, with the Council Bluffs Boys & Girls Club smiles as she snacks on an apple she picked at CreekTop Gardens, a community garden run by local nonprofit The 712 Initiative, on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. That afternoon, The 712 Initiative announced a partnership with Iowa Total Care, which will help educate local students on how to grow food and give them access to fresh produce.
Darlene Beaver, left, and Chelsea Herman chat about how their garden plots are growing at CreekTop Gardens, a community garden run by local nonprofit The 712 Initiative, on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. That afternoon, The 712 Initiative announced a partnership with Iowa Total Care, which will help educate local students on how to grow food and give them access to fresh produce.
Leah Bartalon, 8, with the Council Bluffs Boys & Girls Club shows off the vegetables she picked at CreekTop Gardens, a community garden run by local nonprofit The 712 Initiative, on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. That afternoon, The 712 Initiative announced a partnership with Iowa Total Care, which will help educate local students on how to grow food and give them access to fresh produce.
A new partnership and a two-year, $15,000 grant will help the CreekTop Gardens reach its potential, The 712 Initiative CEO Sheryl Garst said Wednesday.
“This is a tremendous new chapter for the CreekTop Gardens,” she said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held to celebrate a partnership with Iowa Total Care, which provided the grant.
The local vision has been to make the gardens not only an opportunity for gardening enthusiasts but an outdoor classroom for children and adults, Garst said. In 2019, 712 partnered with local Master Gardeners and Iowa Prairie Network to help provide summer programming for Council Bluffs students.
After being cancelled in 2020, programming for students is again being offered this year, Garst said. Next year, Boys & Girls Club members will also have an opportunity to participate in programming at the gardens.
“Now that the CreekTop Gardens are financially powered by Iowa Total Care network, our dreams will become a reality — with a way to sustain the garden, repair and enhance it with programming and materials,” she said. “Hopefully, this will open the door to a long-term relationship.”
The gardens, first tilled in 2010, have been well liked by local residents, Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh said.
“It’s been a great amenity for the community to help people eat healthy — and to teach kids to eat healthy is equally important,” he said.
