A community garden created by the Webster County Cultural Diversity Team will soon see improvements after it was awarded a $10,000 grant.

Our Garden, located near the intersection of Fourth Avenue South and Seventh Street, is one of 32 Community Kickstarter grant recipients in Iowa, according to Jamie Anderson, the human resources director for Fort Dodge.

The city will receive the money on Dec. 1. Anderson said the work will need to be completed within a year from that date.

“We really expect to have it done before then,” Anderson said. “Our goal is to have it done before planting season in the spring.”

The application process included a video, which was prepared by Marysol Sanchez, Fort Dodge human resources/equal opportunity specialist and human rights director, and voted on by the public.

That video received the most votes, according to Anderson.

As for the money itself, Anderson said it will be used to install an onsite water source for the garden.

“We intend to have a spigot right inside the shed, so it would be protected and only the gardeners who know the combination lock could access it,” Anderson said.

A locked shed is located on the property. It contains gardening tools, a wheelbarrow and a whiteboard the volunteers use to communicate with each other.

The goal is to also install a hose to help water the garden.

“Having an onsite water source for the gardens will be much better than using water tanks like we’ve done in the past,” she said.

While some might think the garden is used exclusively by adults, Anderson said children are also an important part of Our Garden.

“Through the hospital (Trinity Regional Medical Center) the last couple years we’ve had a healthy living program,” she said. “A few of the daycares in town were involved with planting two of the plots. They bring the daycare kids out and tend to the gardens and harvest them.”

The food is then taken back to the daycare and given to the children, allowing them to enjoy fresh produce, Anderson said.

She added that families, churches and other organizations have planted plots at the garden as well.

“We try to track the produce that is grown every year so we can get an idea of how much is grown,” she said. “We get, on average, about 100 pounds.”

But, she said, that number could be even higher since not everybody weighs the produce as it’s picked.

The Webster County Diversity Team has a lease for the garden from the city.