Gardeners at Rockford retirement community grow produce for local pantries

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Fifteen years ago, Ken Lemmel started a community garden at Wesley Willows. Today, over 70 residents grow vegetables there that are donated to local food pantries.

“Beginning in 2020, [I] was getting very involved with the Rock River Valley Pantry. Through last year we have taken [the pantry] more than a ton and a half of food. That’s a good feeling,” Lemmel said. “I think it’s appropriate considering who we are in this larger town, this city, to let people know they’re being thought of, especially if they need something to eat.”

91-year-old James Gibbons, who lives at Wesley Willows, located at 4141 N Rockton Avenue, has been harvesting his cherry tomatoes since the garden’s beginning.

“When the garden idea came in, I was one of the first people to sign up,” Gibbons said. “I always loved gardening, loved productivity, Good work, community service, and being close to the earth. I love it. That’s kind of the spirit for everybody that the gardens out here, they really, really love doing it and they keep doing it as long as their body is going to let them do it. It’s a beautiful thing.”

“I have 68 gardeners that are healthier because of being out here,” Lemmel said. “We had a nurse here who was a gardener as well. We give them a sign once they take a plot and her sign said: ‘dirt therapy.’ And that’s what it is.”

In addition to its food pantry donations, Lemmel said the community garden has donated over $20,000 in proceeds to the Wesley Willows Good Samaritan Fund, which helps support fellow residents who have outlived their financial resources.

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