From the Ground Up

What can a bowl of spinach tell you about community, belonging, and what it means to truly welcome a neighbor? 

Ann McGlynn, founder and executive director of Tapestry Farms in Davenport, Iowa, joins Mark and Jess to share how a simple gift of homegrown food from a refugee family sparked a nonprofit urban farm system that has now served over 130 families and grown tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce across the Quad Cities. 

They talk about the intersection of farming, dignity, and healing — and why the word flourishing means something different when you've had to leave everything behind to start over. 

A conversation about roots, in every sense of the word.

Thanks to the incredible production team of Sorta Sacred:

Music: Brian Schou 

Design: Lauren Brown 

Merch: Allison Winter 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good morning. How are you? I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Good. It feels very springy.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

It is very springy today.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

And I'm thinking about gardening.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Do you have an ideal garden?

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Oh, what's in it?

SPEAKER_00 0:14

My ideal garden is, I don't want to say like comprehensive.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

But my ideal garden is very large. I best version of me, and we we know that there's best version of me and real me. Those are never the same person.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Best version of me is growing a variety of things. Best version of me goes out every morning with my giant stainless steel mixing bowl, my old pairing knife with the tip broken off, and it has been for generations. And I go out and I snip the beans and I get some peas and I get my radishes out and I put them in my big oversized stainless steel mixing bowl and I go in and I prepare my food for the day. That's what I grew up seeing my grandma do. And I grew up seeing my mom do that on a much smaller scale. Real me, I grow just enough basil that my wife can make a great pesto if the bugs don't get it first. Real me would love to grow lettuce of all sorts and make delicious salads all of the time. Real me, no, I'm too I I don't have time for that. I do have time for that, but I don't want to have time for that. Ideal me wants to grow all these things, but real me wants to take a vacation and not have to worry about those things while I'm gone.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

So I want to have all of these, all of this beautiful, fresh produce, self-sustaining, healthy. But DoorDash is so convenient and burgers are tasty and they're better than salads. So I I would I would kill everything in my garden.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Because I would forget. That's just kind of how it would work. And and and my wife would be the same way. We both idealize having gardens. Oh, yeah. And we want to have it all. But we're we've become realists and it's just not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So I assume you have the greenest of thumbs.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

And your ideal garden would it your garden is as my ideal would be and will be perfect.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

I mean, I just should live off the land, truly. Like I um recently killed a succulent, so I would quickly, quickly fail. I also idealize this beautiful garden, and I'm gonna have all these things, and I'm gonna have my sun hat and I'm gonna go out and you know, maybe that's a retirement plan for me, but I have never been able to grow anything. I will decimate a basil plant, and I have many times. I will forget to water things and then I overwater them.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

So I'm very proud that I have four plants at home that have survived more than two years. And I have two plants in my office, and one has survived five years. And that's like really big for me. When Tom and I told a friend we were going to be having a baby, he got us a plant as like a warm-up gift. The death child, we killed it so fast. And Tom and I were horrified. We're like, they can't allow us. But a baby cries and a plant doesn't. And we learned that very quickly. So maybe someday, like that's a future me goal. I would love that. And I respect people that can do that. I have many coworkers who I love hearing about their garden stories. That's not my strength.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

So living off the land for you would be eating dirt.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Okay, so you and I are coming at this very similar sorts of ways.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

It surprises me how similar we are as we go through. It's getting weird.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Yeah, it's getting really, really weird. Speaking of food, soil, and people who are actually doing something about it. Today we're talking to someone who turned a bowl of spinach into a movement.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Welcome to Sword of Sacred, conversations about the joys and challenges of life. Today we're finding something sort of sacred even in the most normal parts of our days.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

We do this because they are fellow human beings. Even if someone speaks a different language than you, someone has different holidays, practices a different religion, there's a commonality that transcends all of that.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Here's a question. What if someone handed you a bowl of spinach and it changed your life? Not metaphorically, quite literally. A bowl of fresh spinach from a backyard garden handed to you by a refugee family who just arrived in your community. What would you do with that?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Our guest today did something remarkable with that moment. She saw a family, a bowl of homegrown food, and a community need, and then she built something. Today we're talking to Ann McGlynn, founder and executive director of Tapestry Farms in Davenport, Iowa.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Tapestry Farms is a nonprofit urban farm system that invests in refugee families in the quad cities, feeds the community, and cares for the earth. Since 2017, they've grown tens of thousands of pounds of fresh food, including over 11,000 pounds in 2024 alone, from 12 farm sites plus a year-round hydroponic shipping container. And they've worked with more than 130 families.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Anne grew up on a small family farm in Clinton County, Iowa. She's a two-time University of Iowa grad, journalism and in MBA, and spent nearly eight years as director of communications at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport before stepping away to devote herself full-time to tapestry farms. She was named the 2025 Iowa Shares Humanitarian Award recipient by the World Food Prize Foundation.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

And welcome to Sort of Sacred. That intro almost made me cry. I did a lot of stalking you online. I knew some things, but Google is helpful.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

We just hope you didn't learn anything from the introduction.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

I do get nervous.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Right. So the spinach.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

I didn't know or I don't know that part of the story. Walk us through that moment. You're working at a church, a refugee family arrives, and then Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

So we, a group of us from St. Paul, welcomed them at the airport in September of 2016 and got to know them and over time learned that they could grow food. And Charlene, who's the oldest daughter, uh, came for VBS one week. Well, it would have been June of 2017, and she knew that I liked spinach in my morning shakes, um, which um are pretty legendary and people think that they look really gross, but they're really delicious. Um, they've got blueberries and spinach and um avocado, and they're really great. Um, anyway, she brought me this bowl of spinach, and there's a photo of the two of us in the back of the chapel from that day. And that is uh one of the most important moments in the history of our organization. So that one bowl of spinach, and here we are nine years later.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

That's incredible. Uh, this will be 10 years that they've been here now, right? Later this year.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, so it'll be 10 years in September.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

So the this family came over. Tell us a little bit about their story and some of the challenges that challenges that you've seen them face during that time.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Sure. Um, they um came from a refugee camp. Some of the kids were born in a refugee camp. Mom's originally from Congo, and they arrived, like I said, one one evening in September of 2016. It was a Tuesday, I remember, because we had staff meeting the next morning and we were all tired. Um and there is um my life before September 20th of 2016, and there is my life after September 20th of 2016. You can see it in my photo role on my phone. Um, it just changed everything. And so as they um got to know the new community and we got to know them, uh, forever thankful for Todd Byerley because he knew how to speak uh Swahili, and they um never had access to education, so they couldn't really read or write in Swahili, so it was difficult to communicate with them. And so um Todd was able to communicate with them. And we just started getting to know each other and learning about all of the different barriers that they faced as refugees, and we also learned that they knew how to grow food.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Can we back up one level? I I would love it if you could explain or talk to us a little bit about. I know this is gonna be painting with too broad a stroke, but what causes these these families, these communities to go into refugee camps and what does life in a refugee camp look like? And again, I know that it's gonna be different all over, especially all over Africa.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Especially, but can you can you kind of show us or tell us what that looks like a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Sure. Um in uh the case of this family of Noella's family, um mom and Charlene and Chantal left Democratic Republic of Congo, which has um been war-torn for years, and they um went to a refugee camp in a second country. And that's usually how um families qualify to be part of refugee resettlement. So they have to leave their primary country, go to a second country, seek refuge there, and then apply to be a part of that process. Refugee camps vary wildly. Um in this instance for this family, they were at a refugee camp where school cost money and they didn't have any. So kids and adults um really didn't go to school. There are other refugee camps that have schools and and other things that are available to families, but in this one um in particular, they did not. Um they lived in a mud hut. They cooked outside and waited to be accepted. Um they waited more than a decade to be accepted into uh refugee resettlement. So the weight can be anywhere usually from a decade um up to 20 years. We have one family that waited for 20 years.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Wow. How did St. Paul and you get connected with this family to learn that they were they were coming to the Quad Cities?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Sure. Um there was a member who was interested in uh welcoming a family and had approached leadership here about doing that. And um so uh Peter Marty came to my office, sat down. He actually closed the door, which I love to tell this story because I thought I was in trouble because that's just who I am. I'm like, oh no, am I in trouble? Yep, nope, I was not in trouble. And he just said, Hey, do you know who to call? And so I did. Uh, her name was Amy Rowell, and she um she has since um passed away, but she ran World Relief, which is our resettlement agency here. And so uh Katie Warren and I uh tag team getting a hold of her, and um, that's the start of the story. That was in spring of 2016. St. Paul people gathered household items. Um, Todd Byerley built a small house in the gathering area where people could take a tag off of the small house and purchase items. And that's what we used to furnish their first apartment.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

So they were kind of the start of the idea of tapestry farms.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Oh, for sure. They're the inspiration for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

And now you've you serve so many families and it's grown so much. Can you talk a little bit about that evolution of tapestry farms?

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Sure. Um, I uh had finished my master's degree in 2017 at about the same time Charlene brought me that bowl of spinach and knew that I needed to do something with that degree. I'd always wanted to start something. And so it all just came together. Um the idea behind tapestry farms and what we do today is still the same. Obviously, we've grown quite a bit, but what what we envisioned at the beginning is what it is now. Um people growing food, using their skills and talents that they bring with them to benefit their community while also receiving support and hopefully a feeling of belonging, while also working on our community's welcome of all people, but in our case, especially refugees. So that has that has stayed the same.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

There's a part that I love that I read online. Um, you talked about not knowing exactly how you would use your degree and wondering if it was even the right call. What was it that sparked you into this idea? Was there a moment or was it a series of moments? Talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, I think it was a series of moments that that happened, in particular walking with this family and being a part of the challenges they faced with finding work and housing and dropping kids off at school, knowing that they had never had any access to education, um, especially the two oldest teenagers. Um, they they had never really been to school. Charlene had had a little bit, um, but that that was hard, dropping them off at high school and saying, here you go. Um so just watching and and being a part of those challenges and difficulties with them. Um and while getting to know especially those kids, of you know, what watching them, wanting to be a part of our community um so badly. And also knowing that they had these incredibly bright futures ahead of them. Um and so making the choice to invest in them was really not a choice at all for countless people um who were part of our group at St. Paul.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

How has Tapestry Farms grown and changed as more refugee families have come into the Quad Cities? Obviously, that's not a recipe. Um you can't do the same thing for each family. So how has the organization changed and evolved based on new folks coming to town?

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Sure. Um that's a great question. So we do meet with every family and we try to gauge what their goals and hopes and dreams are, and we match it up with our knowledge of the community and what's available. But, you know, we've had to learn um different cultures. Um the culture of East and Central Africa is different than um the culture of people coming from Afghanistan, um, which is different than the people who are coming from Syria. So as each group has come, um we've gotten to know the people and um learned a whole lot about their culture as much as we can. You have not lived until you have been provided a cup of Turkish coffee at 9 p.m. after eating the meal at uh uh yep, awake for days. Um and so uh, you know, just um being with people and um eating meals with them and drinking coffee with them at nine o'clock on a Wednesday night, I think is what it was. Um so we've we've learned different ways of being. Our our staff and our volunteers work really hard to understand um as many nuances as possible so we can interact well with families.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

In what ways has your life been opened up by all of these different cultures that you get to experience and and how does that impact our community?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Yeah, I you know, I can think of a thousand different ways that my life has been opened up, but I think probably the most important is that I think about um success in life way differently than I used to. Um success in life is not getting straight A's and being the top of your class. Success is in life is um graduating from high school when you never had access to education before you arrived. Um success in life is being able to provide for your family in a way that is not flashy or um, I don't know, with lots of money, but ensuring that your kids have what they need. So my lens on what is success has been shaped drastically by the families that um I've been able to meet.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

You could tell people stories all day. I mean, is there any are there any stories that stand out to you in your mind um that are particularly unique or memorable?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

I'll never for there are lots of there are bajillions of stories, but I think you know, I think because people around St. Paul know uh Noella's family well, one of the most important moments that happened was during the pandemic. Um we we worked really hard to ensure that um the two oldest girls in the family would be able to graduate from high school, um, study study sessions and um just a lot of one-on-one time. And I received an email. I was sitting in what was my office at the time, I received an email from uh someone at the school indicating that the girls were indeed going to be able to graduate from high school. I'm pretty confident that, well, I know I could not get to Todd Byerley's office fast enough. And uh Todd called his wife Lori, and we made our way over to the house. It was the pandemic, so everyone was at home. And the girls had a choice. They they could continue on, they could keep going to high school, or they had enough credits to to graduate. And so we stood on their back porch um and let them know that choice. Charlene immediately answered. She's like, I'm I'm graduating. That's it. I'm I am graduating. I choose to graduate. Chantel did take a little bit of time to think through what her decision was going to be. Um, but ultimately she decided that she too um would choose to graduate. And so I think it's those milestone moments of kids graduating from high school, kids getting their driver's license, adults getting their driver's licenses, people getting a car, people getting their first jobs, um all of those big milestone moments that really allow people to continue on in their journey. Um we had a gentleman last week that um I took him for, I believe this was his second time that he tried um to pass his driving test and he passed. And so we take those moments and savor them because life is really hard for so many people, and to be able to celebrate things like driver's licenses and and high school graduations are just really important.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

As more and more of these fam families have come to the quad cities, how have you seen community built up around them? Obviously. It's not just tapestry farms, not to imply that I'm minimizing the work. But obviously it takes a lot of people, a lot of organizations, a lot of love to help life thrive. How have you seen that play out?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah. I can give you, again, like a million examples, but one of the things that I enjoy watching the most is kids in schools. So our kids are in lots of different schools, but there's a few schools that have more kids, more of our kids. And so we get to know those staffs a little bit better. But watching kids figure out how to interact in school and watching the staff have patience and discernment about how to best teach kids who come from backgrounds where they had no education or their education was severely disrupted. Again, just talking about those graduation moments, but the path on those graduation moments. So watching kids in schools is one of my most favorite things to do because you really can see their promise coming out, even when there are struggles. We have an English class now at our offices and watching that progress and watching how we have a lot of volunteers who help make sure that 18 adults and about the same number of littles, babies and toddlers and preschoolers, get to come twice a week. And, you know, we have drivers and childcare providers and our teachers who are just absolutely amazing. And so watching that type of situation where people feel safe coming and being a part of this community. I think we've got six or seven different languages that are spoken just in that English class. But um, you know, they get to shop our, we have clothing that and household items and toys that line the hallway, and they get to shop on break. So, you know, there's really beautiful ways that community surrounds people, um, especially as they're coming into the country.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

There are so many things that Tapestry Farms does. Can you walk us through? So you mentioned there's classes, you grow food. Like, can you walk us through all the different levels and things that Tapestry Farms does? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Yeah, I'll start with our social services. So um, English class is a part of that um education, um, housing, making sure people stay housed. And if they're not in a long-term sustainable situation with their housing, um, trying to figure out a long-term sustainable situation for their how with their housing. Um, we're excited right now we're partnering with First Presbyterian um uh renovating two houses that were set for uh demolition, and this congregation decided to save those houses. And so, you know, it's projects like that that really bring joy. Um, one of our big focuses right now is working with our families to ensure that everyone has their um applications in for their green cards. Um, there's a lot happening right now at the federal level that is changing how refugees are um, I don't know what the word is, uh seen by the federal administration. And so one level of safety that we can provide is making sure that those green card applications are filed. And so our we have shifted our staff resources to um try to get as many of those applications done as carefully and quickly as possible. It's trips to Des Moines, it's trip to trips to um wonderful places like the Scott County Health Department and the Rock Island County Health Department and community health care to get forms filled out. Um so that's that's our social services for our food growing. Um we've actually increased to 14 sites, um, which is super exciting. We started partnering with a large uh 1.2 acre site last year. So altogether we grew about 69,000 pounds of produce last year. Most of that, more than 60,000 pounds, was given away. Um and we hire refugees as part of that work. Um, we're hoping to have a summer program this year again for high school kids in particular. So, and then people engage with purchasing that produce to support uh what we're doing. We also um just started baking, um, which has been so much fun. We make baklava. Well, we I don't make that because I don't cook. Um, I'm pretty legendary for not cooking. So baklava in Dubai chocolate, and we've got flowers. Um, so just working on our social enterprise income. Um, so that's been super fun as well.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

The the MBA at work. The MBA at work. Diversifying revenue streams.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Yes, diversifying revenue streams. Where do you get a lot of your funding from to make these programs happen?

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Yeah, we um so Mark mentioned diversification of funding. That I mean, that that is what we do is we get um we do we have local foundations that have been hugely supportive of our work, and I cannot say enough about them. Um, we've been fortunate to have national foundations give us grants as well. Um, we do have one government grant that supports our social services. We have farm revenue, we have corporations who give to us, we have individuals who are hugely supportive. Um we have our big fundraiser in the spring, May 1st, if you'd like to come. It's super fun. Um, and then we now have a fall fundraiser. And then the people of St. Paul have been so supportive of us in about a bajillion different ways. Um, we grow food here on site at St. Paul, which we are so thankful for. Um, we have St. Paul members who are volunteers, who are on our board. We have St. Paul people who are donors, and then, of course, our twice-a-month uh food distribution, which ensures that 35 of our families have access to fresh produce and staples that um are good for their bodies and they're familiar with. And so that crew and that um that support is vital right now, as many of our families have lost their SNAP benefits and soon to lose their Medicaid benefits due to changes in federal law last year. So um we do work hard at diversifying funding. Um, we now have an investment account, so we get dividends off of our investment account, which is super MBA-like of us. Um Yeah, so we worked really hard to diversify.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

So you have a culturally specific food pantry, which is beautiful when I when I got the tour. It really uh got grabbed my attention. What does that mean for those who don't quite understand what a culturally specific food pantry is and why does it matter?

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Oh, uh I'll talk about why it matters first. Um the reason why it matters is um resettlement is of a difficult process. You are you've already been forced to leave your home country. You've likely been in a second country for for the most part many years. Um and so you you've gotten used to that um environment, and now you're now you move to a third environment. And it is very, very different than either the first your home country or your second country that that you fled to. So having familiar things um speaks volumes to families that says, okay, we have even just a little bit. Um, we have the oils that you're familiar with. We have cassava flour, which is the type of flour that you're familiar with. Um we have toiletries here because toiletries are really expensive. And um so you can keep your house clean or um keep your kids' you know, teeth brushed. Um uh diapers is hugely important. So the diaper crew at St. Paul um making sure that um all of our littles are taken care of in some really substantial ways. So that familiarity piece is just really, really important. Um, halal meat. Halal is a way of butchering um meat that um that's for um people who are Muslims. So we have a halal freezer. Um we distribute halal meat through our packaging at St. Paul. So it's that familiarity piece. Um so our market is called uh Karibu Market, uh, both the St. Paul effort and the market, the room at our office. Karibu means welcome in Swahili. Um so we um we want people to feel welcome. So that that market has familiar items and um oh, we also have some teas in there that um are common for people to drink. So it's just that welcome piece that you belong here. And look, we have things for you that you need and you recognize.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Well, you mentioned a little bit about the elimination of SNAP benefits and some of those insurance things that are going away for refugees. It's a very complicated time right now. Um it's a very charged time right now. What do you say to people who wonder why this work is important?

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Sometimes I struggle with um the the narrative that um, well, we should do this because um refugees and immigrants um contribute to our community, and they do. Uh a thousand percent, absolutely they do. I think about my own ancestry. My ancestor came from Ireland during the potato famine, and he his name was Peter McGlynn, and he could not read or write. Um, he dug ditches and worked um on the railroad to I so he came fleeing a difficult time in his home country. And I think about like if he could see not only me, but my siblings and all of our cousins and all of the things that we are doing in our world today, um, I think he would be totally blown away by that. But I don't I don't want to say ever that we should do this because they contribute. We do this because they are fellow human beings who have worth and who have been through some very significant trauma in their lives, and hopefully we can provide a um safety to them so that they can resettle, um, hopefully feel a sense of home again at some point in time, um, and really be a part of our community. Um every human has inherent worth. And yes, they um will go to work and they will grow food and all of those things that that are important. Um but first they are humans, and as humans we are supposed to care for each other.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Thanks for wording it like that. I mean, there's something deeply theological in that, right? I mean, our worth, all of us as humans, is is not on what we do. It's not on our contributions, it's who God made us to be. And the more we can acknowledge that amongst each other and all of the each others that we get to live with, the better off our society will ultimately be. But we have to get past contribution equals dignity or contribution equals worth.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

That is correct.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

You've talked before about Governor Robert Ray and how he welcomed refugees to Iowa in the mid-70s and how that shaped your sense of what Iowa can be. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Robert Ray, who, if you're from Iowa, you I'm confident you have heard of Robert Ray in the mid-70s when I was living in a 12-foot-wide trailer on my grandparents' farm, um, he said to his friends in the federal government, I I want to welcome people from Southeast Asia to Iowa. Can you please let us do that? And there were lots of people involved, of course, and um lots of people at the federal level got involved, but ultimately his desire and other people's desire to welcome people to the state and really welcome them resulted in the Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980, which then resulted in more than 3 million people being welcomed to this country. Um, that refugee resettlement is currently on pause for the most part. There are some people coming through the refugee resettlement program, but not very many. And so his concept and of welcome and his belief in people's inherent dignity, and that Iowa is a good place to be and is a good place to raise your children and really set down roots, is the Iowa that I believe in, that I want to have be the ideal. And so even though refugee resettlement is for the most part paused right now, with some exceptions, I my greatest hope is that Iowa will continue on with the welcoming spirit of Robert Ray. And not just Iowa, but every state and every person. I admire his um tenacity and his humanity. And there are some days where this work is really, really hard and I get cranky and I get angry about everything that's going on. Um, but I center myself in people like Robert Ray, who who really led and said, no, I Iowa is a good place for refugees and immigrants, and and we we want you to come and be here.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

What do you think happens or changes when a community chooses welcome over fear, inclusivity over exclusivity?

SPEAKER_01 39:01

I think people get to experience that humanity of seeing that even if someone speaks a different language than you, um, even if someone has different um holidays than you, if someone practices a different religion than you, there is a there's a commonality that transcends all of that. I remember one time um we went on a staff retreat at the St. Mary's Monastery in Rock Island, and I don't know if the poster is still hanging on the wall there or not, but there was this poster on the wall that represented all of the the major religions of the world and what the um what the the most important teaching was of each of those religions. And different words were used based on the religion, but basically it's be good to each other. That's the basic tenet of every major religion in our world. I I mean, even minor religions. I don't, I don't know, but just being good to each other. And I think welcoming refugees and immigrants gives people an opportunity to really be good to each other. Um, you know, my hometown of DeWitt welcomed a lot of people from Ukraine. And it just makes me so happy to know that they have said, as a community, we are going to welcome you. We are going to support you and care for you. Um the that the impact of that it will last for generations. So I feel like well having a welcoming spirit is allows us to really see our humanity, our common humanity, and not just see it but practice it.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

There's a phrase on the Tapestry Farm website, refugees and neighbors flourishing together. And that word flourishing feels intentional. What does flourishing look like?

SPEAKER_01 41:17

So a couple of Fridays ago, um there was a crew of us that went to Des Moines and we went there because Noella's kids became U.S. citizens. And I drove my car, and Todd and Lori Byerley drove their car, and a woman named Lisa Britt drove her car, and we went. And it was a very short ceremony in a nondescript office building in Des Moines, and but the kids got their certificates. And so now every member of that family are U.S. citizens. And we turned around and we came back. And we took photos while we were there, of course, of the kids and Noelle and Chantal with the kids, and Chantal's daughter Leah with the kids. And so there were lots of pictures that were more formal and in front of flags and all of that. But when we got back, I don't even know who said that they, I think it was Noella who said that she wanted a picture of the crew. And um so we stood on the steps leading up to Noella's backyard, and Jerome had the longest arms, so he held the camera, and we took a selfie. And I think about all of the challenges that we have collectively been through, and all of the easy days and all of the hard days, but when you look at that one family, they're flourishing. Yes, they have challenges, yes, they have struggles, but they're flourishing. Um and that that is good for them, it's good for our community, it it's good for everybody. Um I don't I can't remember the exact phrase, but it has to do with, you know, when everyone is doing well in a community, it's so much better when everybody is doing well. So is everyone doing well in the world of tapestry farms right now? No. Are we working to try to help and assist everyone is on their path to doing well? Of course. But ultimately, we want everyone to do well. Those kids are extraordinary. Um, Aliyah, who is Chantel's daughter, will turn three in May. And I, it was so much, I don't get to spend much time with them anymore because there's 35 families, other families. But I watched Jerome, who's a junior in high school. Um, we needed to get an applesauce packet. We were at a convenience store. We had to get an applesauce packet from Aaliyah, who had already started eating the applesauce, but we needed to pay for the applesauce. So we needed to just temporarily get that from her so we could pay for it and then return it from her. I kid you not, Jerome did like the best parenting trick of all mankind. He said, Hey, Aliyah, look at this really cool thing I've got. I can't remember what it was. Do you want to look at this? And she willingly gave up the applesauce packet to look at whatever Jerome was giving her so we could get the applesauce paid for. And she didn't like she was focused on that really cool thing. And we got the applesauce. No, she's three, almost three. So, you know, people can have tantrums. Well, adults have tantrums too. But two and a half-year-olds can have tantrums. There was no tantrum because Jerome, a junior in high school, um did this amazing parenting trick, like, oh my gosh, you are extraordinary. So those kids are extraordinary.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

So, where does faith fit into your understanding of this work, if at all?

SPEAKER_01 45:42

Yes. So um, Tapestry Farms is not faith-based. We work with people, no matter their religion, about half of our families right now are Muslim. Um so while we have no stated faith in our bylaws or on our website, I would say that for the m for most of the people or many of the people involved in tapestry farms, there is a a belief, a faith belief system. For me personally, um, I grew up Catholic in a very small two-point parish in Clinton County. Um, Villanova was the church in the middle of nowhere, north of my parents' house. Um, and then Charlotte, um, Assumption in Charlotte is kind of the was the main church. And we gathered there, we had donuts together, we celebrated holidays together, the things you do that you're when you're a part of a faith community. And that continue on, you know, through high school, I was involved in the Lutheran church that my friends were involved in. And again, that gathering piece, we had a winter camp that we went to, I went to from high school into college, but that importance of gathering together. And I feel that now today with even though faith is not explicitly stated on anything, um, it's the it's the concept of welcoming the stranger that underlies everything, everything that we do. And that piece of of gathering together, being a part, a regular part of a community. I think one of the most important things I learned while I was working at St. Paul was getting through differences or hard things as a community. That's what a community is all about. Yes, it's about being there for each other and and seeing each other and smiling and greeting each other. That is all very important. But one of the underlying principles that I learned was getting through disagreements or when you see things differently than someone, um, but still being a part of the same community and and and weathering that together. So those are the things that come through, I think, or I hope come through in in tapestry farms, even though you won't you won't find anything about faith on our website or on our social media or or anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

One of my dreams for this congregation for St. Paul is that we can be a model for what our community could look like. Diverse people in all sorts of ways that could still come together under I mean, in in our case, these the the opportunity to sing and pray and disagree and be people of differing philosophies and even somewhat different theologies, but we can still be community together.

SPEAKER_03 49:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 49:19

And that's exactly what you've established at Tapestry Farms. Maybe underneath a slightly nuanced umbrella, but it's that it's that beautiful idea of what society should look like.

SPEAKER_03 49:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

And what it can look like. Yes. And in in micro, what it does look like.

SPEAKER_03 49:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

That's just that's deeply theological at its core.

SPEAKER_03 49:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:40

So you're doing some pretty good church there, Ann.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

Thanks. I loved reading this quote about that you said online because you are a very inspirational person to me. You do incredible work. We have similar backgrounds. So I really look up to you. And you said it's hard starting and building a successful nonprofit because you have to know a lot of things. And I walk into things feeling like I should know everything, but I know that I don't. What was the hardest part of building tapestry farms and what kind of courage did it take to step into something new like that?

SPEAKER_01 50:10

Um, I would say, in, you know, for at least, I don't know. So we'll be nine years old this summer. For the first four or five years, like the self-doubt that that plagued me was sometimes overwhelming. Um, can I do this? Should I be doing this? Um it does this work really matter? Um, that self-doubt was sometimes overwhelming. And I was actually thinking about this a few weeks ago. Uh that's gone away. Um, yes, I worry about things that all nonprofit leaders worry about. I I worry about our growth trajectory. And are we growing too fast? Are we not growing enough? Are we helping enough people? Are we helping too many people? Do we have enough money? Um, all of those things that um I don't know, that all nonprofit leaders worry about. But thankfully that that self-doubt has dissipated. Um, I think just as we have grown and our I have amazing colleagues who um just know what they're doing and and watching them do what they are good at um is gives me um hope. Um the I think the challenge for founders in particular is will this survive past me? And we have also worked really hard. There's a binder, it's called Anne's Brain. And my colleague Maggie Jackson, who's very good at organizing, she writes down all of our processes, all of our procedures, uh like she knows where all of our documents are, and it's called Ann's Brain. And so if something were to happen to me, my I think my most important goal professionally in life is that Tapestry Farms continues on. So um it's it's moved from lots of self-doubt into ensuring that this that this will carry on forever, no matter if Ann McGlynn is a part of it or not.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

This has become a common theme, and I think it's just the way the world is right now. What is it right now that's giving you hope?

SPEAKER_01 52:56

It's kids becoming U.S. citizens, it's a father of four getting his driver's license, it's um still being able to somehow get um work authorization cards for um some of our families. Um it's also people saying that they see that the pendulum has swung too far in an anti-immigrant um mindset and and articulating that. And saying that out loud to the people that they feel are important to listen to that. That that gives me hope. It's also all of our volunteers who gather on the second and fourth Tuesday to package food for people and then the volunteers who deliver the food. It's our English class crew. They give me hope. We call Tuesdays Chaos Tuesday because we've got packaging and we've got English class and we've got our CSA or our monthly subscriptions where people come and get what they've purchased from us to support our work. So I maybe the short answer is Chaos Tuesday. Chaos Tuesday gives me hope. I am very tired after Chaos Tuesday. Um, but it gives me hope because look at all of these people who want the best for the families of Tapestry Farms. That gives me hope. So when there's scary things on the news or things I might disagree with, um, I've been thinking a lot lately about sphere of care versus sphere of influence. I can care about a whole lot of things in this world right now. I am choosing to instead focus on my sphere of influence. What can I influence? I can influence to make sure 35 families have the food that they need to eat, or that they get their green card applications done, or that we have a new orchard in West Rock Island, which I'm super excited about. That's my sphere of influence. And I think the the more people who define, understand, and then act upon their sphere of influence, the better. So if there's anyone wondering what what I can do, figure out your sphere of influence. Like what do you care about? Do you care about high school kids graduating? Do you care about preschoolers, um, having access to education? You know, there's a million things that you can care about, but reducing your focus on your sphere of care and increasing your focus on your sphere of influence.

SPEAKER_02 56:10

And as we wrap up, if someone takes away just one thing from this conversation, what do you hope it would be?

SPEAKER_01 56:18

I believe that we actually don't have a hunger problem in our community. We have a food growing problem in our community. We have all of this land, we have some of the best soil in the entire world. And it sits and doesn't produce anything when we have such a significant issue with people not having enough food to eat. So if I could convince even one person to start even small in their own backyard to grow food, that is what I wish. Um and maybe grow it for themselves or grow it and give it away to a food pantry. So that's one thing. Um the second thing is think about if this is in your sphere of influence, being kind or welcoming strangers. It does not have to be an immigrant or a refugee. I'm gonna advocate for that, of course. But being welcoming, not knowing what someone has encounter has been through, has endured, and offering to be a friend, I believe can change our whole community. So grow some food, be nice to someone who might be different than you. Seems simple.

SPEAKER_00 58:09

I think even you and I could do number one on that.

SPEAKER_01 58:11

Yes, we can try.

SPEAKER_00 58:13

We can try. We have nothing to lose.

SPEAKER_01 58:15

Exactly. You can grow tomatoes in five gallon buckets.

SPEAKER_00 58:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

I can kill tomatoes in five-gallon buckets. But I can try to do better.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

But we can try. We can do this.

SPEAKER_02 58:29

I feel inspired. I've got these raised garden beds that just sit in my garage every year. And as we're talking, I'm like, I can do this. Yeah. I can do this.

SPEAKER_00 58:37

Best mark is like charged up. Yeah. Like, let's let's go plant some stuff.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Okay, go get some soil from the compost facility. It's super cheap. It's super good. I had no idea how to garden when I started tapestry farms. No idea. My dad, I growing up, I wanted nothing to do, not nothing. That's not fair. Very little to do with our farm. I was gonna go live in New York and be a famous writer. And my dad thinks it's absolutely hysterical that I run a farm now. And if you know my dad, um, it's particularly funny. Uh I knew nothing about gardening. I still am not super great at it. I, for the record, my own yard suffers terribly. I every year I get flowers and I think I'm going to have flowers in my yard. And then every year they die because I don't water them.

SPEAKER_02 59:32

Thank you so much, Anne, for joining us today and for the work you're doing every single day.

SPEAKER_00 59:37

And thank you to all of you for listening to Sword of Sacred: a bowl of spinach, a family finding their footing in a new place, a woman who saw a need and decided to do something about it. That is how communities grow. One small act of welcome at a time.

SPEAKER_02 59:53

Until next time, keep finding the sacred in your every day.