Tapestry Farms is celebrating the season of giving with the launch of its expanded product line, featuring handmade baklava, fresh flower arrangements, and locally grown vegetables.
They’re available as both one-time holiday purchases and 2026 subscriptions.
Every item is made or grown by refugee employees rebuilding their lives in the Quad Cities, with all purchases directly supporting Tapestry Farms’ employment and social service programs for refugee families.
This month, supporters can select from one-time offerings:
● Baklava Boxes – Made by refugee women in small batches using a traditional Arabic recipe, shipped nationwide or available for local pickup.
● Holiday Flower Bouquets – Fresh flower arrangements designed for December celebrations.
In addition to these one-time holiday gifts, Tapestry Farms has launched its 2026 subscription offerings, providing ongoing impact throughout the year:
● Vegetable Subscriptions – A monthly share of fresh greens, herbs, and root vegetables grown right here in the Quad Cities all winter long.
● Flower Subscription – A new bouquet each month created by their farm team, which includes refugees from across the globe who now call the Quad Cities their home.
● Baklava Subscription – Monthly boxes of baklava made in small batches at Tapestry Farms.
“Our community is stronger and more vibrant because of the talent and traditions that our refugee neighbors bring to the Quad Cities,” Ann McGlynn, executive director of Tapestry Farms, said recently. “Our baklava, flower, and fresh vegetables allow people to enjoy something delicious or beautiful while supporting the families who make the Quad Cities their home.”
Every purchase directly supports Tapestry Farms’ model of care—creating jobs for refugee women while funding comprehensive wraparound social services, including healthcare, housing, education navigation, legal services, employment support, English class, transportation and much more.
The nonprofit has a hydroponics container where they can grow produce all year (outside the Quad City Botanical Center, Rock Island).
“So we have lettuces and other leafy greens year-round through the container. But our seasonal farm obviously kills these,” McGlynn said. “So part of the reason why we’re doing this is to give the opportunity for our staff to stay on over the winter, but also grow our social enterprise income. And so we decided to add baklava because we have colleagues from Syria who make amazing baklava and then flowers as well. We're working with Hy-Vee. They have a distribution center here in Davenport. And so they've been so good to us.
“We'll have a monthly floral subscription that's available, then we'll do holiday types of flowers as well,” she said. “We're doing Christmas flowers for Christmas, and I'm sure we'll have Valentine's Day flowers and Easter flowers and Mother's Day, all sorts of different holidays.”
Last year, Tapestry Farms (founded in 2017) sold vegetable subscriptions for the holidays, and this is a big expansion of that. Prices are $30 a month for baklava boxes; $40 a month for leafy vegetables, like lettuce and kale, and then for flowers, it's $50 a month.
Tapestry moved into two floors of space at Davenport’s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral last January, formerly occupied by a day care center, Positive Parenting (which closed during the pandemic).
“That’s given us the opportunity to expand significantly, not just with our social enterprise, but also for the programming that we offer to families,” McGlynn said, noting a legal aid clinic (accredited with the U.S. Department of Justice), child care center, free clothing, culturally specific food pantry, and English classes. Tapestry Farms also has a work partnership with the YWCA Quad Cities, offering job opportunities to refugees.
Tapestry currently employs 18 people, including its social services, social enterprise, and administrative staff. It typically serves about 30 refugee families at a time, totaling 150 people.
From Syria to Turkey to QC
Two Syrian refugees – Betul Qamizou, a 31-year-old married mother of five, and Fatima Hussein, a 41-year-old married mother of five – are enthusiastic workers for the life-changing business. Betul and her family fled the Syrian civil war in Aleppo in 2012, and Fatima and her family left in 2014, both for the same city in Turkey, where they didn’t know each other.
Turkey was the largest host country of registered Syrian refugees, with 3.6 million Syrian refugees in 2019, 3.3 million in 2023, and almost 3 million at the time of the Fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.
As of December 2022, a minimum of 580,000 people were estimated to be dead; with 13 million Syrians being displaced and 6.7 million refugees forced to flee the country.
“We are so happy in working here. I am very happy today,” Betul said Friday, Dec. 5, noting she works producing baklava, vegetables and flowers.
Fatima’s 17-year-old daughter Qamar works with her.
“We knew that we were going to be expanding this, and we had the opportunity to taste some of the baklava that they made,” McGlynn said. “It was like, okay, we're going to do a baklava business.”
Betul said a key ingredient in that delicious, flaky pasty is to bake in love.
Fatima (the nonprofit’s bakery and floral manager) doesn’t really speak English, but Betul said they both love working with Tapestry Farms.
“I am very happy in the USA in my future, my children,” Betul said. “And my children happy. I am working here with Madame Ann, who’s very, very nice in help everything with me coming to here. I don't speak English, I don't have money, everything. Madame Ann help with me and Fatima.”
“Before coming here, I am not working in any time in Syria and Turkey,” Betul said. “Coming to here, I am working. I am happy. I feeling it's businesswoman. Strong, strong woman.”
“Qamar is one of the most intelligent people I've met,” McGlynn said. “Qamar is so smart and so she actually is very good at arranging flowers. And so she'll be doing a lot of that work with flowers. Also this summer, Fatima and Qamar ran our farmers’ market stand at the Rock Island Farmers’ Market. Fatima got her driver's license and so she's able to drive our refrigerated van and go to market.”
McGlynn also has been impressed with how the refugees bond, get to know each other and work so well together.
“We have English class two days a week here. And there are people in that class from seven different countries who speak six different languages. And it just doesn't matter,” she said. “Everyone is there because they want to learn. They want to be a part of something. They want their children to come and start engaging in some lessons. And so we work with people who speak many, many, many different languages and come from many cultures. And we try really hard to have everyone learn something different from everyone's cultures.”
McGlynn was invited to Fatima’s house for dinner one night (during the Eid holiday), and loved their strong Turkish coffee.
“There was all of this beautiful, amazing, wonderful food. And then her husband said, oh, you must drink coffee. And I said, oh, no, it’s 9 o’clock at night,” she recalled.
Fatima and Betul said their kids have been welcomed in their schools and do not face discrimination. It’s a different story with the federal government.
Concern over anti-immigrant policy
Fatima has lived in Davenport two years, and Betul about one year, and they’re in the process of getting their green cards – which the Trump administration recently put a pause on for all immigrants and refugees (except white South Africans).
“Now with all the news, I am afraid. Where are you going? Where I am going? It's big problem for me,” Betul said. “I am afraid go to Syria. I don't like to go to Syria. I am here for future of my children, same Fatima. But I am now very, very afraid.”
“The process is that as part of the refugee resettlement program, refugees are required to apply for their green card after they've been in country for one year,” McGlynn (whose own family emigrated from Ireland and Germany) said. “Then after five years, they've been in country for five years and they can apply for U.S. citizenship.”
“There's a halt right now in processing green card applications. So it's a very uncertain time right now for people who have had a lifetime of uncertainty,” she added.
“Refugees go through some of the most extensive vetting before they are admitted to the country. And so those processes are already in place,” McGlynn said. “And so it now sounds like that's going to be required yet again.”
For Tapestry Farms as an organization, “we are just continuing to do our work. We just continue on,” she said. “The things we have no control over. What is happening nationally right now, what we have control over is our ability to focus on the people who are in front of us and just keep doing the work and assuring the families that we serve that we're here and that we will do everything in our power to keep them safe.”
“The United States is built on immigrants. I myself, my heritage is linked to Ireland and Germany, obviously with my last name. And so my ancestors on the McGlynn side of the family came during the potato famine when they faced significant poverty.
“Our country's built on that,” she said. “Our country is built on immigrants coming and being a part of their community and teaching us all sorts of different wonderful practices and mindsets.”
“The fear that is happening right now is just so deeply damaging,” McGlynn said. “It's causing people fear very unnecessarily. And so again, we just focus on the people who are in front of us and continuing to do the work and trying to build something that is good for the people we serve and for our community.”
Rock Island urban agriculture ordinance
Tapestry Farms has three growing sites in Rock Island – one, a hydroponics container in the parking lot of Quad City Botanical Center; a site owned by SAL Community Services in the west end of Rock Island, and a third half-acre site (with fruit trees) Tapestry is in the process of purchasing (by February) in the west end.
The city is in the process of adopting a new urban agriculture ordinance. It aims to:
- Encourage urban agriculture and affirm residents’ right to produce their own food.
- Prevent conflicts between neighbors and ensure activities are well-maintained.
- Provide clear standards for upkeep and enforcement when problems occur.
While some properties with urban agricultural activities are well cared for, others may have overgrown weeds, rotting vegetation, or attract nuisance animals. Right now, the city doesn’t have specific rules to address those situations. This ordinance would fill that gap with common-sense, enforceable standards. The ordinance also allows the city to recognize that different parts of Rock Island have unique contexts and needs.
After first proposed in May, “there were some very significant concerns about the first version of the ordinance, and through multiple conversations and some advocacy work, thankfully, now that ordinance as written is much better,” McGlynn said.
“It’s not just a workable ordinance, but also it's something that will give people the opportunity to continue to grow food,” she said.
“The people of Rock Island, in my view, are models for how all of our Quad Cities should be,” McGlynn added. “We should all be using the land that we have. Our community has some of the best land in all of the world. Our soil is so rich and has all sorts of nutrients and can grow so much food.”
The new Rock Island ordinance is expected to be recommended to City Council, and voted on, in January 2026.
Tapestry also recently announced its new GIFT Gardens partnership produced 64,063 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, distributed to 18 food pantries and community sites in the region
“People have been growing their own food and donating it to food pantries for a very long time, but with GIFT Gardens, the concept there is that it's a cohesive, community-wide effort where we all feel like we're a part of the same team growing food for each other.
“Whether if you can grow 25 pounds of zucchini or you can grow 50,000 pounds of a variety of things, it doesn't matter,” she said. “You're part of that crew who are ensuring that everyone in our community has access to nutrient-dense fresh produce that is just better for our bodies than processed food.”
“We’re hoping to grow that effort and believe that the path that Rock Island is on now with its urban ag ordinance is the right path in order to really encourage people to do more of that,” McGlynn said.
Tapestry Farms holiday pre-orders and 2026 subscriptions are available now online at https://www.tapestryfarms.org/shop-all-products.
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