St. John’s Circle of Care Campus awarded Healthy Together - SHIP Grant

Springfield, Minnesota — Chris Stark, Director of St John’s Grandkids and V.I.K. programming and Chaplin Noel Wetter were awarded a mini grant of $5,194.00 this summer to purchase wheelchair accessible garden beds and gardening equipment for the campus of St John’s.

Prior to this grant St John’s had been doing small scale gardening projects with the residents and children utilizing small containers to grow items like tomatoes and herbs. The grant money was used to purchase multiple raised garden beds, fertilized soil, plants, seeds, gardening tools, and storage sheds to complete the needs to implement a larger scale garden project. More than 167 people ages 1 to 100 are now able to enjoy more fresh vegetables since they are grown right on campus.  

“These resources are a blessing to our residents and tenants. The raised beds at St John’s Lutheran Home are on wheels so we can take the garden to residents in a comfortable environment that works for them,” said Chaplin Noel. “This summer gardening has been a new experience along with all the old memories.”