Gardens to grow

SHORELINE — The Shoreline Children’s Center’s gardens and playground, although unfamiliar to most of the community, will soon be utilized by many, hopes Linda Averill, the center’s principal.

The children’s center recently received $15,000 in grant funds from the Starbucks Coffee Parks Grant and the center’s PTA, and the money will be used to build an extensive network of gardens around the perimeter of the center’s playground, said Marilyn Enloe, curriculum specialist and music and physical education teacher at the children’s center.

The money will allow the center to further develop its gardens, which already include butterfly, secret, native, sound, dinosaur, vegetable and scent gardens, Enloe said.

Averill and the center’s staff began developing the first garden three years ago as an idea stemming from an outdoor environment committee of teachers, Averill said. The first garden built, the secret garden, was funded by a grant through the Shoreline Foundation, she said.

“The idea continued to develop,” Averill said. “Of course, we needed dollars to make it happen.”

The Starbucks Coffee Parks Grant will be the first of many large grants, Averill hopes.

Not only will the gardens create a fun and interesting place for children to learn and play, but Averill also hopes all community members will feel comfortable using the garden.

“At each of these gardens there will be places for families and children to spend time,” Averill said.

The center, which is part of the Shoreline School District but open to children from outside the district as well, provides preschool, pre-kindergarten and extended-day options for children. It partnered with the Richmond Beach Starbucks to get the grant, said grant writer Joanne DeForeest McCandless.

For several years, the center has been hoping to develop the playground area, and this is the first big step to get the ball rolling, McCandless said.

“We’re gaining momentum,” she said.

A committee was formed to continue plans, and it is contacting local organizations to see how other groups can help out. Windermere Real Estate and The Home Depot have already given support, and the city of Shoreline’s recreation department has also embraced the project, McCandless said. She believes it’s important for the community to work together.

“It’s a diverse community,” she said. “(The project) represents the community, the school, the parents.”

The center’s PTA continues to raise funds for the gardens and other children’s center programs. It kicked off its fall harvest fund-raiser Tuesday, Oct. 26.

Now that it has received the funds, the committee, which includes parents, children’s center staff, Starbucks manager Beth Leonardo and others, has begun the task of determining how the money will be best spent, McCandless said.

The first goal on the committee’s list, she said, is to build a beach garden, which she hopes will include a rowboat, driftwood, rope, beach artifacts and lots of sand contained in a huge sandbox. Volunteers from Washington Mutual will be at the center Nov. 5 to create the beach garden.

The center also plans on connecting the gardens with a trail and signage that explains each garden, she said. Averill said the signs will supply suggestions for what can be done at each garden to utilize its educational value.

Since the Shoreline Children’s Center moved into the old Meridian Elementary site 18 years ago, only one new play structure has been added, Averill said. The need for playground equipment geared toward young children is evident, so a new play structure is also a goal of the committee, Averill said.

McCandless said a completely new play structure would cost around $30,000, so the center hopes to begin with something small and continue to add when more funding is available.

Averill is enthusiastic about the future of the gardens and the children’s center, which also has a satellite program at Lake Forest Park Elementary. The Shoreline Children’s Center has experienced huge growth in the last five years, she said, with around 300 children enrolled in its tuition-based programs. The grant funds and growth of the play area will contribute to this growing resource in Shoreline.