When Iola City Council members learned Monday the city’s budget would not support another $1,000 worth of free water for the Elm Creek Community Garden, they told organizer Val McLean to return in a month to see if they could raise the funds privately.
The answer took less than a day.
Iolan Earl Croley, who has benefited from other benevolent gardeners as much as anybody, phoned City Councilman Aaron Franklin with a $1,000 offer.
Croley’s donation was given in honor of his late wife, Cinda, who died of cancer in June 2010.
“Cinda and I loved getting food from the garden,” Earl told the Register. “And when she got sick, it seemed like everybody was bringing by produce for us. We loved it.”
Croley read about the city’s need in Tuesday’s Register, “and I immediately thought of my wife. It jumped out at me that I should do something like that. She’d be tickled.”
Croley has one modest request.
“If anybody has some nice tomatoes from the garden this summer, they can leave them on my porch,” he said with a laugh.
FRANKLIN said others have donated since Monday’s meeting.
He has asked city administrators to set up a budget line item dedicated for water for the Elm Creek Community Garden.
“Thanks to Earl, they’ll have the water they need for this year, but they’re gonna need help in the future,” Franklin noted.
Now, others can still donate and know their money will benefit the garden in subsequent years.
