When Ames Mayor Barbara Domain walks behind Ames City Hall these days, she sees more than rows of okra, peppers, zucchini, and squash. She sees neighbors trading recipes, children learning where their food comes from, and a community that is starting to knit itself closer together.
Ames, a small town of 937 people in Liberty County, sits in deep East Texas. Like many rural places, it faces challenges of limited access to fresh food and economic constraints. But with the support of the Community Sustainability Team at Communities Unlimited (CU) and funding from the Trust for Civic Life, the town has turned a patch of land into something much bigger — a hub for health, learning, and civic pride.
CU’s Community Infrastructure Team first connected with Ames on wastewater system needs. That relationship later opened the door for the Community Sustainability Team to step in. CU Community Resource Manager Yolanda Martin linked the city with a new funding opportunity coming from Trust for Civic Life. Ames received more than $2,500 to launch the garden, covering lumber, soil, seeds, fertilizer, and even a small stipend for local help with weeding.
Mayor Domain said the garden was born out of necessity.
“When we don’t have any food in the food distribution building, we could at least have some products if we grow our own,” she said.
In a community where many residents struggle to afford groceries, she saw the garden as a way to make sure “there’s always something here — you always have a place to come and get you something to eat.”
The city is already seeing results. Residents drop by to help harvest or tend rows, often bumping into neighbors they might not otherwise talk to. Domain believes these small interactions are reshaping the town’s sense of connection.
“It’s pulling us back together as a community so in hard times we’ll be close-knit and look out for one another,” she said.
Through the Trust for Civic Life, CU became one of the first grantees of a national philanthropic collaborative investing in locally led projects that strengthen civic connection across rural America. These “civic experiments” — quick-start efforts like Ames’ community garden — are designed to spark trust and plant seeds of hope across CU’s seven-state footprint.
What’s next in Ames?
The fall crop is already being planned, with seeds on the shopping list. Domain hopes the garden will expand in size and eventually serve neighboring communities. Partnerships are forming too, like the agriculture teacher at Hull-Daisetta High School who started seedlings in the school greenhouse for Ames.
The garden, she said, has been more than vegetables — it’s been a bridge. CU’s role, from Martin’s outreach to guidance from Healthy Foods Coordinator Brenda Williams and Community Facilitator William Thrasher, has ensured Ames had the resources and knowledge to succeed.
“They made sure I had everything I needed and was on track,” Domain said. “I appreciate them for helping me out.”
For a town the size of Ames, a garden may seem small. But to the people who harvest its produce, share it with a neighbor, or sit down to a healthier meal, it’s a sign of what’s possible when a community grows together.
Looks like a great place to get robbed
Looks like a good place to shoot a porn scene with your wife and mother. Make it one of those Piss porn scenes with your wife and mother getting Piss showered
Anthony is mad because someone pointed out the obvious. See, Anthony is black. Stay away from the watermelon patch in Ames because Anthony is likely lurking in the tree line, being unemployed and black. Waiting for the free shit in your unlocked car so he can trade it for crack.
Another White Pussy hiding behind a Fake profile. Post your name and let’s meet up so you can let me know how you feel about black people. We can talk MAGA politics and how the POTUS could be a child molester. And by the way Ames is the safest town in Liberty County..
Oh my Lord, all this hatred over such a wonderful story? – I am so thankful that there is a place in Ames that is teaching our youth the importance of self-sufficiency, of growing what you eat, that is doing what they can to try and help end hunger in the area, and also bridge the gap between neighbors.
Can we not make everything about hate and race? Why is it so hard for people to just show appreciation for a small community trying to do better for future generations?
Garth Brooks once sang:
When I close my eyes I see, the way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand
When the last child cries for a crust of bread
When the last man dies for just words that he said
When there’s shelter over the poorest head
We shall be free
When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
When the skies and the oceans are clean again
Then we shall be free
What a world that would be!!