Carey Garwood, of Garwood Orchards and Bethany Lutheran Church, was born and raised in La Porte and still currently resides there with her husband, Brian and her four dogs and cats. She attended school at Indiana University briefly before she came home and went to Purdue University Northwest.
When Garwood came back home she got involved in the real estate business with her mother-in-law who worked for Remax. She went about getting her real estate license to start selling homes and was also helping out at Garwood Orchards, as well.
“I still sell real estate, mainly to friends and family now. I also work at the orchard, mainly during the fall season during the weekends. I work with the retail management and marketing side of the orchard business,” Garwood said.
She has worked at Garwood Orchards since she was a teenager and officially became a part of the family when she married her husband.
“I love the energy and excitement that goes along with a family farm. The entertainment brings in people from all over to go to the orchard. It is a family tradition for a lot of folks, so it is always special to host and help uphold those traditions for families,” she described.
Her favorite produce from Garwood Orchards is sweet corn during the summer months and Honeycrisp apples in the early fall months.
“Being a U-pick orchard with a retail store and also being a wholesale grower, we have a large variety of produce for people to choose from.”
In addition to being a real estate agent and helping out at the orchard, Garwood is also employed full time at Bethany Lutheran Church in La Porte.
“Working at Bethany Lutheran Church is my full-time job,” she said. “Here I focus on the outreach to the community and marketing within the church.”
Garwood has been working at Bethany Lutheran Church since about 2006, but started off by volunteering for the church.
“Before I started working a full-time job at the church, I was doing a lot of volunteer work and organizing projects in the early 2000s,” she said.
Garwood’s favorite part about working at Bethany Lutheran Church is how welcome the church is to the entire community.
“The passion and interest that Bethany, as a church, has with involving the community in our events, projects, and fundraisers is outstanding,” she said. “Our fundraisers are for someone besides us. We work with partners, like the Jaycees, to raise money for other people so we can help the community outside the walls of the church. These events may involve people that may not belong to Bethany, but they feel connected and involved because we all work together and help with community-based events.”
Currently, Bethany Lutheran Church is working on the Local Heroes Benefit that supports the La Porte City Police, Fire, County Sheriff, and Emergency Medical Services. In addition, the church also provides funding for the Jaycee Fireworks, Local Heroes Photo Contest, Jeep Wrangler Raffle, and Red Wine and Brew, which are all fundraising events.
“We have also teamed up with other community leaders to plan a back to school ‘Rock the Block’ rally for La Porte School System that will include free backpacks, haircuts, giveaways, booster seats, and more,” she explained excitedly.
Outside of working as a real-estate agent, at Garwood Orchards, and at Bethany Lutheran Church, she enjoys spending time with her family and pets, and morel mushroom hunting.