DOWAGIAC — Soon, the grounds at Dowagiac’s One World Center will be overflowing with green kale, plump tomatoes and fresh carrots, among other produce — all of which will have been planted by local community members.

The Grace Center and the One World Center are partnering to organize a community garden club. Starting May 15, the garden club will meet Wednesdays from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the One World Center, 56968 Dailey Road, Dowagiac.

Through the garden club, which is free to join and open to any community members and specifically geared toward children, participants will learn how to grow and maintain a variety of vegetables and will eventually be able to take some of the crop home with them, once grown.

According to Selina Ivens, with the Grace Center, the goal of the community garden club will be geared toward teaching community members how to grow healthy, sustainable foods in a way of which they can be proud.

“There is a need for this,” Ivens said. “We want to teach our kids the natural way of doing things and just to see their eyes and how they react to knowing that they grew this, they can eat it, and they can take it home.”

“There is a health crisis in the country, and this is a way of addressing the health crisis in our community,” added Laura Banos, program manager for the One World Center. “This is a way to offer healthy foods … and have people connect with food and the land.”

As the One World Center is a nonprofit group that works to fight against poverty and climate change, Banos said partnering with the Grace Center for the community garden club fit well into One World Center’s overall mission.

“It’s part of supporting the community of Dowagiac,” Banos said. “We train [people] to be humanitarians. We offer humanitarian programs, so part of our efforts is partnering with the community of Dowagiac and partnering with people like Selina for the betterment of the community and the future.”

The community garden club is not the first time that the Grace Center and the One World Center have partnered. For the past three years, the two organizations have collaborated on a summer day camp to teach students about sustainable ways of living. This year’s camp will take place from June 24 to 28.

“We have always worked really well together,” Ivens said.

Both Banos and Ivens said they would encourage community members to put on their work boots and join the garden club to learn more about eating healthy and working the land.

“We would encourage any children or anyone in the community to come to the garden club to learn about organic agriculture and how to grow healthy for our families and the community,” Banos said.

“This is a basic need for all of us,” Ivens said. “I’m very excited to see what will come of this.”