P-Patch Pages
Village Green Foundation
The mission of the Village Green Foundation is to build a place that connects and strengthens community.That place is both an intergenerational, multi-functional community center and library, and a park that's a gathering place for people of all ages.
more info..Our 2009 and 2010 activities leveraged the successful community-led work that brought about the opening of the Village Green Park on August 13, 2009. Both Pie in the Park celebrations raised over $5,000 for the next step of our project: Just above the reclaimed military housing site, we'll be building an up-to-date, intergenerational library and community center.
By the time we opened the park, about 100 community members had donated nearly 1,000 hours of labor prepping and grading the former military housing site, and installing a commercial-grade irrigation system before hydro-seeding, and many others had contributed in-kind donations like services and lunch, to make this effort successful. When you consider that all of that happened in the context of a severe recession, you have an idea what kind of community Kingston has become - can-do spirit is everywhere.
Click here to see how the Foundation's current goals leverage this extraordinary community accomplishment.
Metropolitan Park District
Washington State Law says that a Metropolitan Park District (MPD) may be created for management, control, improvement, maintenance, and acquisition of parks, parkways, boulevards, and recreational facilities. The district may include territory loaned in portions or all of one or more cities or counties or both. The applicable state statutes were amended by Chapter 88, Laws of 2002.
As amended in 2002, state law now permits unincorporated areas like Kingston to form an MPD. Read on to see why there was a perceived need for an MPD, and what the MPD has meant to the community already.
Kingston Community Center
The August 13, 2009 Village Green Community Park opening event was actually the first step toward building a replacement community center. That was followed by two more Pie in the Park pie-eating and pie-auctioning events, both of which raised more than $5,000 to help us with the costs of building the new community center at the Village Green.
We took an important next step on Sunday, November 6, 4:30 PM at the Oak Table Cafe in Kingston. We met over spaghetti for a fun and informal session to brainstorm potential resources to support the new community center - library, Boys & Girls Club, senior center, meeting rooms - at the Village Green. The resources identified included businesses, individuals, foundations, associations, government, potential campaign volunteers, community members and supporters, and candidates for honorary chair. Thanks to all who attended; to Ross and Nikki McCurdy for the great spaghetti dinner; to Rick Bjornson of Kingston IGA for donating tasty wine; and to Lacy Menne of Borrowed Kitchen Bakery for the great cookies.
The results provided the capital campaign volunteers with a good starting point for potential donors and also yielded a great list of interested volunteers.
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Volunteers Needed |
What You get out of participating |
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* Participation in the most significant quality-of-life project in recent Kingston history * Knowledge that your kids and your kids' kids will be benefiting from your efforts * A tax-deductible donation, whether you've made cash or in-kind donations (to the limit of the law) * The chance to see your neighbors in a new light - they have skills and experience you never dreamed of! |