Project update: Edith-Carrie Gathering Place six months later
When people ask how a park can transform a community, we tell the story of the Edith-Carrie neighborhood in Walla Walla, WA.
Last September we worked with residents this small, neglected neighborhood to build a gathering place — amphitheater, shelter, gateways, fences and a mural — in one week. (Check out some of our pictures of that wonderful week of building
That experience launched the neighbors into a whole new level of engagement with each other and their community.
Edith-Carrie kids at the neighborhood-organized Easter Egg hunt and potluck.
Since that week, they’ve:
- organized a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt and potluck
- spoken at a City Council meeting to request financial support for their neighborhood
- planted 16 trees in the park and have plans for a community garden
- pulled together their own “living room food bank” over the holidays to help some of their neediest neighbors
And the list goes on - work parties, outdoor movie nights, leadership trainings.
We asked what they were doing before we all built their park together. “Nothing,” was their answer. “We hardly even knew each other, let alone cared, before we built the park.”
Edith-Carrie kids searching for eggs and candy in the amphitheater.
“I used to keep quiet and to myself,” said Edith-Carrie resident Shirley. “Now I can’t keep my big mouth shut! I’m calling City Council members and knocking on neighbors doors to get them out to the park and other neighborhood projects.”
We are proud of the park Pomegranate Center helped create in the Edith-Carrie neighborhood, but even more proud of how the residents have taken charge of their own neighborhood transformation now. We can’t wait what they take on next!
The residents begin to gather for the Easter Egg hunt and community potluck.