Even though 17-year-old Lauren Schroeder is a member of Future Farmers of America (FFA), some people in Iowa would tell you she’s already a farmer, and then some.
A junior at Calamus-Wheatland High School, Schroeder has grown and donated 7,000 pounds of fresh vegetables to local area nonprofit groups in the Quad Cities area, according to KWQC-TV. The outlet estimated she has given away approximately $15,000 in produce in less than two years.
Schroeder told KWQC she was volunteering at a community food bank three years ago when she first noticed fresh produce wasn’t being given to families in need.
“I thought it would be great to change that,” she told the Washington Post. “I wanted people to get the nutrition they needed from fresh vegetables.”
A daughter of farmers, Schroeder told her parents about her idea to plant vegetables for needy families and they let her use a half-acre of their property to start a garden. After receiving a national grant from the FFA for supplies, she soon planted 15 different types of vegetables, and later harvested them, donating the produce to nonprofits including Carroll Assistance Center, Wheatland Nursing Home, Café on Vine, River Bend Food Bank, Lost Nation Food
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