👩‍🌾 What type of crown does a veggie queen wear?

Lauren Shroeder was only 14 when she began volunteering at a community food pantry. As the teen stocked shelves full of donated dry and canned foods, she couldn’t help but notice the lack of fresh produce for families in need.

Lauren grew up on her family’s farmland in Iowa, and while she had learned a bit here and there about gardening, she had never tended to or harvested crops on a large scale.

But, in 2022, she set out on a mission to bring nutritious food to families who need it.

🌱 It starts with a seed… Lauren spent weeks researching everything she could about growing produce on a large scale.

• “I did a lot of research online to find out what worked and what didn’t,” she shared. “What plants needed shade, which ones needed more water and when the best time was to harvest each crop.”

While her parents were worried about the amount of work that would come with her harvesting goal on top of the teen's already busy schedule, Lauren received a grant to help fund her first batch of seeds and equipment and got to planting.

Lauren spent 2-3 hours/day to tend to her fields before or after school and softball practice. And she spent extra time in the hot summer months, making sure none of the vegetables dried out.

When it came time to harvest her first batch of veggies, Lauren picked 40 lbs worth of produce. After they were sorted and washed, she drove them to eight different groups, including local food banks, a soup kitchen, a nursing home, and multiple social service nonprofits.

👀 Looking ahead... Lauren can't stop, won't stop. Between 2022 and 2023, she harvested 20,000 pounds of fresh produce to donate, and worked an estimated 1,000 hours in her garden. She plans to hopefully double both numbers in 2024.

• “I’m learning a lot as I go, and I love giving back,” she shared with WaPo. “I’m happy to do it. Everyone deserves to have something healthy to eat.”