A ribbon cutting was held for the community gardens at Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church Friday, Aug. 1.

Nicole McAlexander of Southeast Linn Community Center said that the garden beds had been relocated from near Rehabilitation Center of Lisbon to Seeds of Faith earlier this summer.

“We received a grant from Linn County for this project from American Rescue Act Plans to build raised garden beds,” McAlexander said. “When we were looking to install raised garden beds, we realized our current location of the community gardens wasn’t guaranteed to be there long term, and we started seeking out a place for the gardens.”

Enter approaching Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church to house the raised bed gardens.

“It’s right in our church’s name to be the seeds of love for our community,” said Pastor Erika Uthe of Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church. “When we were approached about the project this winter, it just seemed like a no-brainer decision.”

Uthe said it has been a joy to see the countless volunteer gardeners working in the community gardens when she gets to the office each morning.

And McAlexander said that the gardens are a complete labor of volunteers, with more than 400 hours dedicated to the gardens this season, with countless more to come.

The crops raised at the garden go to SELCC to be distributed to the community. And that’s an area that is noted by many who utilize the food pantry as something they look for – fresh produce.

Mount Vernon mayor Tom Wieseler noted that the communities of Mount Vernon and Lisbon should be proud of the food pantry in the community and the dedication of the volunteers who help with the community gardens, when comparing what Mount Vernon and Lisbon have to other communities in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City corridor.

“Their food pantries or community gardens are not as robust as ours, and that’s because of the dedication of so many volunteers,” Wieseler said. “We should recognize the resources and importance of SELCC.”

The community gardens were originally established near Rehabilitation Center of Lisbon in roughly 2018. In 2024, the gardens in Mount Vernon and Lisbon raised more than 5,400 pounds of fresh produce which were shared with the community.

“It’s been amazing to see the communities come together and these gardens grow,” McAlexander said. “We believe that food is a human right, and we love that we’re able to give nutritional food to our community and excited to see what comes of these gardens moving forward.”

Volunteers helped install the new raised beds near Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church, and a fence has been installed around the gardens to further help the crops from predation from animals.