Community Comes Together on Sweet Corn Project September 12 , 2014
Community Comes Together on Sweet Corn Project September 12 , 2014
A community-wide effort to provide families with access to fresh sweet corn has emerged in the town of Ossian providing clients of the Greater Area Pantry with 70 bags of donated sweet corn every week .
The effort began as a spontaneous act of generosity by Doug and Mary Lou Egeland , who decided to donate sweet corn from two-and-a-half acres of their land . When Doug ordered the sweet corn seed from Pat Tekippe at Farmers Union Coop , the coop and DuPont Pioneer agreed to donate the seed . Doug ’ s neighbor , Al Schmidt donated the fertilizer .
Many community groups have volunteered labor to pick the sweet corn , including groups from Boy Scouts , Zion Lutheran Church , Calmar Lutheran Church , First Lutheran Church in Decorah and the Calmar & Ossian Co 4-H club . South Winneshiek Elementary school now plans to create an educational day at the sweet corn field for its students .
Extra sweet corn beyond what Greater Area Pantry clients need is taken to market , with the proceeds donated to support the work of the pantry .
Ms . Joanne Roney with the Greater Area Pantry observes that this project was only possible due to the broad support among the community . Picking 800-850 ears of corn each week for the pantry is a source of community pride , and plans are underway to do it again .
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