For the kids: A garden full of imagination, wonder and fun

GRESHAM, Ore. - It's a busy day in Gresham - traffic whizzes by at a steady pace, folks are out and about getting things done and local businesses are bustling with activity.

Amid it all, a family sits in the cool shade of a children's garden playing games, reading books and putting on puppet shows. They're laughing, smiling and genuinely enjoying their afternoon together.

They've discovered the joy that can be found at the Children's Imaginative Garden at Gresham's Vance Park.

It's a place where kids can learn the fun of gardening, chase each other through an arborvitae maze, touch a plant that makes their hands smell like peanut butter and stand in a tent as butterflies fly around them.

The garden is a labor of love for the volunteers and work study students who spend their days tending the garden, teaching kids and dreaming up new ideas for the place.

People for Parks, a local non-profit organization that has been around since 1974, spearheaded the project, which has helped turn the park around. Over a decade ago, the park had a bad reputation for crime and in 1998 People for Parks stepped in to make a positive change.

Today, the park is a place for families once again.

According to Kathie Minden, who heads up People for Parks, the community really has taken ownership over the park - and the garden - and folks are enjoying the public space once again.

"The kids really watch out for it," Minden said. "They keep an eye on it."

Minden, who once worked in corporate America and who also spent years working for the Salvation Army, has been with People for Parks since the taking back of Vance Park in 1998. Minden said she felt a calling to create a better quality of life for children and families. So she took a leap of faith.

"I just had a sense that I should do it or at least give it a shot," she said.

Minden is a firm believer that creating inviting green spaces at parks and providing fun and educational programs for kids and families can bring people together.  It's not always an easy task to try to effect positive change, though, and Minden admits it can be hard to keep going sometimes.

"You have to work with it and it takes time to develop," she said. "Nothing happens overnight."

But in the end, Minden knows that all the effort will pay off, as it did with the Children's Imaginative Garden at Vance Park. Her hard work, and the hard work of all of those who dedicate their time in the name of People for Parks, has created something special that the community can take pride in.

And the city is more than happy to partner with folks like Minden and her group of volunteers, students and others who devote their time to improving local parks.

"People for Parks has been great advocates for our local parks and they've done such great work," said Laura Bridges, spokesperson for the City of Gresham. "It's nice to have people who care deeply about parks and who care about the kids. We try to be supportive where we can and try to help them out because we know that at the heart of it, they're trying to help the city and the community."

For More Information on People for Parks

The children's garden at Vance Park isn't the only project People of Parks has undertaken over the years. The organization also provides after school programs aimed at giving kids a positive outlet, they have youth sports programs, they put on summer recreation programs and do much more.

• For more information on their projects and programs
• For information on how to volunteer with People of Parks
• Other ways you can help out

If You Go

• The park is located along Southeast 182nd Avenue between Stark and Division. You can park along Southeast 182nd Avenue in front of the park or in the parking lot at Ascension Lutheran Church.
• The garden is free and open to the public every Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. from now through August 29. Storytime is at 1 p.m.
• Printable map of the garden (pdf)

All photos by KATU Web Producer/Reporter Shannon L. Cheesman