Matthew 25 Urban Garden, PATCH Program

The DeWolf's and Lil' Drug Store have been supporting Matthew 25's work for the last six years. The first grant was made in 2015 to support our Grow Possibilities Campaign. This capital campaign funded the development of Matthew 25's permanent office, Groundswell Cafe, event space, the Tool Library and Cultivate Hope Urban Farm, the first urban farm in the state of Iowa. 

During the last several years, the DeWolf family and Lil' Drug Store have been consistent contributors to projects connected to the Time Check Neighborhood where the Cultivate Hope Urban Farm is located. Total funding support from 2015-2020 has been $12,000. Support has been given to impact the following:

• Summer farm camps for pre-K through 6th graders learning about healthy food
• Rehabilitation of existing, dilapidated homes
• Construction of new homes
• Community building through front yard gardens and adirondack chairs

Clint Twedt-Ball
Executive Director
Matthew 25
www.hub25.org

PATCH has by far been the recipient of the largest grant distribution from the Disaster Recovery Fund, receiving  $1.2  million in support from that Fund.  As shown in the attached Dashboard report, PATCH has completed restoration of 184 homes and has 139 projects underway.  It is interesting to note that the calls for assistance, also shown on the chart, have been relatively stable since March of 2020, as the program has become better known and as homeowners have come to realize the full extent of damage to their homes from the derecho.

To appreciate the human, as opposed to the statistical, side of the story, the following video shows how PATCH assisted one mobile home owner who had nowhere else to turn.

Les Garner
President & CEO
Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation (GCRCF)
www.hub25.org/housing-neighborhoods/patch-program

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