BGM Elementary students participate in a musical exercise during the spring concert on Thursday, March 14. The program features students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade. 

​          Tommy Hexter of Grinnell is running for Iowa House District 53 as a Democrat. Hexter is the director of Grinnell Farm To Table, a local food business that connects more than 35 local farmers with consumers in Poweshiek and Tama County and provides food access to eight community food pantries in the area. He also works for Iowa Farmers Union as a rural organizer representing family farmers in state and national politics.
        Hexter is running for House District 53 because he believes there are many residents of Poweshiek and Tama County that are not having their voices heard in the State Legislature. He believes that decisions about public education, resources for Iowans, and agriculture are made at the Iowa Capitol and that these issues impact the daily lives of everyone in our District.
      Hexter is 24 years old. His motivation is to make living in our counties better for current residents and a viable option as a place to live for the next generation. He will listen to constituents before speaking, fight for critical resources like public schools and food access, and support rural development by making sure farmers and small businesses have the tools they need to thrive. 
      You can follow Hexter for Iowa on Facebook, Instagram, or at hexterforiowa.com. His largest goal is to make politics accessible to everyday people. To be a true representative, he aims to get out and reach all voters in Poweshiek and Tama County to let them know he is listening and that everyone deserves to be represented in the decision-making that impacts their lives. He is always willing to speak in front of any group or have private conversations with anyone.
       He is looking for help knocking doors and calling voters. Request more information about Hexter’s campaign - volunteering, inviting him to speak at events, or just getting together for coffee - by emailing [email protected].

​       Kent Reed, founder of American Brawn Charity and the newly opened Solace Center on the third floor of the Grinnell Masonic Lodge at 928 Main St. in Grinnell is shown in the art therapy area of the center. Reed founded American Brawn in 2018 following a motorcycle accident. to help first responders and veterans. The Solace Center is a place where veterans and first responders can gather to do art projects, listen to music, read and relax. A grand opening is slated for Friday, March 29 from 6 – 8 p.m. The event will feature live music, snacks and a tour of the space.

By J.O. Parker
 
      A place of solace for veterans and first responders to gather, visit, listen to music, read or work on art projects has opened its doors in Grinnell.
       The American Brawn Solace Center is located on the third floor of the Grinnell Masonic Lodge at 928 Main St.
       The public is invited to a grand opening on Friday, March 29 from 6 – 8 p.m. The event will feature live music, snacks and a tour of the space.
     The Solace Center is the brainchild of Kent Reed, the president and founder of the Grinnell-based American Brawn Charity outreach, an organization he founded in the summer of 2018.
    Reed, a sales representative with Latitude Signage + Design in Grinnell, founded the fundraising organization following a serious motorcycle accident in the Altoona area on June 2, 2016, that left him with three skull fractures and a brain bleed.
      “My life was saved by first responders who got to the scene and stopped the bleeding and got me to the Mercy Hospital Emergency Room (ER) where they saved my life,” he said in an earlier interview.
        Reed spent eight days in the ICU at Mercy where he dealt with ongoing complications of the accident. He spent six months off work and was unable to drive while recovering from the accident.
       “I came back better than before,” he said in an earlier interview. “Since then, I have been doing everything I can (to make a difference) with the rest of my life that God has given me to live.”
      While recovering, Reed decided to pay back and pay forward for what first responders did for him and what the veterans have always done to keep us free and safe.
     Each year in late July, Reed and American Brawn host a fundraising gala to benefit veterans and first responders.
       “So far, we have raised almost $80,000,” noted Reed of the 501c3 non-profit organization.
      The mission of the organization is saving lives through efforts to stop suicide among U.S. Military, Veterans and First Responders, and to provide grants to Fire and EMS departments for the purchase of life-saving equipment.
       It was through the gala that Reed met Scott Droessler, a 28-year Army Veteran and Cedar Rapids artist.
Reed said Droessler entered the Army as a young man and it was his mom who made him promise that he would earn a college degree after the military.
      “He did go back to college 28 years later where he earned a fine arts degree,” said Reed.
Droessler is founder of CAV (Community of Artists and Veterans) located on the fifth floor of the Cedar Rapids City Hall. 
     “His program provides art therapy to veterans and their families,” said Reed. “He has donated some of his artwork to American Brawn Charity fundraisers the last two years.”
      Reed visited the art therapy center during one of their sessions in November 2023.
      “It gave me the fever to create a similar program in Grinnell,” said Reed. “His place had large windows and lots of natural light for the art studio.”
      “I started thinking of where I could do that in Grinnell and the Masonic Lodge came to mind,” added Reed.     “I asked (the Masons) and they welcomed the idea with open arms.”
    Over the course of the next three months, Reed and a host of volunteers spent Saturdays and some evenings cleaning and organizing the space. Reed said he visited second hand stores and searched Facebook for Sale sites looking for furniture, bookcases, desks, antiques, art supplies and other items for the Solace Center.
      It’s quite a hike to the third floor and Reed said he used the three handicap motorized electric chairs to move furniture and supplies up three flights of stairs to the Solace Center. He hired C&K Transfer of Grinnell to move some of the heavier items.
      The space is divided into two sections by 17 wooden panel doors. On one side is an art therapy area lined with three large wooden folding tables. The other side is the music and reading space filled with large comfy chairs, coffee tables, antiques and a music venue space for mini concerts. There is also an old piano that was inherited with the third floor space when Reed moved in.
       “I had the piano tuned and it is working like new,” said Reed.
       The area also includes a project corner filled with wood shelves, old signs, wooden chairs and other items for guests to paint and create artwork.
       Reed said the items will be sold periodically to raise money for the Solace Center.
      And when guests arrive at the Solace Center, they are greeted by a large wall filled with positive, upbeat sayings, poems and loving quotes.
       Reed said American Brawn is allowed to use the space, which still has access to a rarely used kitchen, on a very generous lease.
      The Masons had a new heating and air conditioning unit added to the space, replacing outdated boiler heat with radiator heating units.
      The Solace Center will be open every Thursday from 6 – 8 p.m. for scheduled solace sessions, inviting veterans, first responders, their families and close friends to partake.
      For those unable to attend a Solace Center session, Reed said he or a volunteer would be happy to provide them with artistic direction and materials for a project to do at their home.
        Other open hours and events will be communicated through the American Brawn Charity Facebook page. These include periodic volunteer workshops and guest artists and musician presentations.
     “Please join us just to check it out with absolutely no obligations whatsoever to stay or come back (although we’re sure you’ll want to!),” noted Reed. “Bring a couple friends with you to share in the time.”
        For more information on American Brawn Charity, visit www.americanbrawn.us.

       Tommy Hexter, middle, executive director of Grinnell Farm to Table, is joined by 2023 summer interns Tristan Davis, left, and Julianna Vajda, right, at the businesses located at 1032 Main St. in Grinnell. Grinnell Farm to Table is an on-line marketplace were area residents can purchase locally raised fresh, healthy foods once a month. The business serves about 80 customers a month and with the help of the USDA, provided $95,000 in locally grown foods to food pantries in Grinnell, Brooklyn, Malcom and Montezuma. Furnished photo.

By J.O. Parker

       Grinnell Farm to Table is an on-line marketplace were area residents can purchase locally raised fresh, healthy foods once a month.
        The non-profit business currently has 36 mostly local farmer producers who offer everything from fresh vegetables to all kinds of meat including beef, pork, bison, goat, lamb, poultry, grains, dairy, eggs, honey, jams, salsa, popcorn, berries, herbs and spices, fruits, various types of flour, nuts, breads, cakes and more.
      There are also bath and body products, goat milk soap, fresh tofu, cheese, garlic, live plants, flower bouquets and home and garden supplies.
        The majority of the food products sold at the business are raised, prepared and packaged within 25 miles of Grinnell.
       The business is under the direction of executive director Tommy Hexter and a 12-member board.
      According to Hexter, the farmer producers and market managers who participate in the Grinnell Farm to Table outreach believe that local food is good for the land, for farm animals, for the environment and biodiversity, for the local economy and for the health and well-being of all the customers.
     The Grinnell Farm to Market was originally founded in 2011 as an LLC (limited liability corporation) by Grinnell College students.
     “The idea was to collectively purchase food from local farmers (and offer to the students and community),” said Hexter.
      The business has gone through a handful of changes in ownership with Hexter being the fourth person to take over the business in September 2020.
     In 2020, the business had 14 farmer producers and generated $20,000 in sales. In 2023, the business generated $60,000 in sales from 36 farmer producers.
       Currently, the business is serving 80 families a month.
     In addition, with the help from a USDA Grant called the Local Food Purchasing Assistance program, Grinnell Farm to Table was able to donate $95,000 worth of free food in 2023 to food pantries in Grinnell, Brooklyn, Montezuma and Malcom.
       “We pay the farmers for all the food we sell and give away,” said Hexter.
      In January 2023, Grinnell Farm to Table merged with the Local Food Connection, an organization founded in 1999, and the two entities now operate as a non-profit business.
    Local Foods Connection used donations to purchase weekly produce boxes called CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares from local farmers and delivered them directly to families with limited financial means in Iowa.
      “They provided food and recipes to the families to help them prepare delicious and nutritious meals with local produce,” noted Hexter.
      Hexter said the benefit of being a non-profit allows the business to receive more support from community foundations like the GreenState Foundation and United Way of Grinnell, and also to receive government grants from the USDA to allow the business to purchase food from local farmers to donate to schools and pantries.
       In June 2023, the business moved into a building at 1032 Main St., just north of McNally’s Foods. Prior to that, the business operated through the Drake Community Library with a local pickup location.
Hexter said the idea is to provide customers with locally grown foods in one location without them having to drive to each farm.
       “The goal is giving access to good Iowa-grown food to everybody,” said Hexter.
       Hexter is a native of Crozet, Virg., a small community near Charlottesville.
      He grew up wanting to be a farmer. After visiting the ‘Field of Dreams’ site in Dyersville at age 12, Hexter said he fell in love with Iowa. He followed in the footsteps of his mother and attended Grinnell College, graduating in 2021 with a degree in food systems.
       He was a junior at Grinnell College when he purchased the Farm to Table business.
      When asked about his future plans, Hexter said he would like to expand the business hours and to offer food items for walk-in customers.
       In addition to serving as executive director of Grinnell Farm to Table, Hexter works with the Iowa Farmers Union as a Rural Organizer for farmers’ issues.
        Hexter said there is no fee to become a member, and no requirement to buy.
      “Just check out our local food offerings each month and order what you want, when you want,” said Hexter. “If you want a small quantity of something – one pound of corn meal, say, or one bag of greens – that’s all you order.”
     He said the business is part of a larger movement of Iowans growing food for their families and neighbors.
       “When you see a family start to make a living by growing their own food it gives us hope in the future of small town Iowa,” said Hexter. “It’s small farms making a difference.”
         Visit grinnellfarmtotable.locallygrown.net to create an account and start ordering foods.