Herald staff
MILL CREEK — Every time Merrill Gardens residents go for a walk to the doctor’s office or the library, they will have a chance to rest and remember people in their community care about them.
A 6-foot-long park bench has installed between Merrill Gardens and the Mill Creek Library. It’s a modest bench, but it’s an amenity that has been on the wish list of Merrill Gardens residents for some time.
Seniors who live at Merrill Gardens have wanted a bench to ease their pedestrian travel for some time.
Laura Hendee, one of the residents, has worked for a year and a half to talk the city into installing a bench.
During election season, Hendee posed her question at a candidates’ forum for city council hopefuls.
"They were looking for votes," Hendee said.
Donna Michelson called her the next day. Michelson later won.
She got to work on the project right away. She remembered some state grants that could be used to celebrate the new millennium with park benches and other installments. That covered $1,000 of the $1,800 cost for the bench. The rest came from private donations.
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