Mercer Island Library Secures Grant for Children's Garden

The King County Library System recently received a grant t at the .

Funded by a grant from , the Library's garden project is one of four proposals across the Seattle Metro area selected by Issaquah-based The Pomegranate Center for construction. They are seeking to build a new public gathering places, and decided Mercer Island would be an ideal spot. 

The Library is now seeking volunteers to help design the garden by attending collaborative community meetings in June. According to the Pomegranate Center, the garden would be the "Creation of an outdoor gathering, learning, and nature space that is adjacent to the library."

Community members will have an opportunity to provide input on the creation of a gathering place intended to increase the early learning skills of our youngest patrons. Early learning activities are diverse and extend beyond simply reading to a child. The development of imagination and a sense of wonder have been positively linked to children’s early exploration of nature and are important motivators for life-long learning.

The garden will be focused on our youngest patrons but will be accessible and inviting for all ages. The first community meeting will take place June 4, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mercer Island Library to generate community ideas and goals, question and answer session and outline the project's parameters. A second meeting will be held June 27, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. to present and refine garden designs.

According to a Library press release, there are two types of volunteers that they are looking for:

1)      Community Members – between 30 and 50 participants are needed. The commitment is to participate in community meetings, design workshops and construction (there will be 2-3 two hour meetings) and to volunteer to help with the construction of the garden which should take 3-5 days.

2)      Public Space Rangers – These are professionals from the design, construction and fabrication fields who will donate relevant skills and expertise to the project design and construction. Around 3-5 of these volunteers are needed. The commitment will be about 4 hours of training, participation in design workshops, plan development and construction plans and participation in the garden construction. People with experience in architecture, landscape architecture, and master gardeners are required. 

Construction on the garden is expected to take place August 10-13. To volunteer, call or email either Amy Eggler or Christine Anderson at the Mercer Island Library 206-236-3537 mercerislandlibrary@kcls.org  by March 31 if you are interested in volunteering.  If the  grant proposal is accepted the project will begin in May and conclude by Dec. 31, 2011.

The three other projects funded by the grant are: 

• Hunter Farm Gathering Place, Wedgwood, Seattle,
• Downtown Sumner
• Square Park in Kirkland.