Build Your Own Happy Place
If this story inspires you, and you would like to see a Happy Place in your community, we have included below some of our plans and lists to help you on your way.
Happy Place (phase 1)
- Create a steering committee: landscapers, family members of those impacted, school and/or community organizations, and marketing folks (we had a parent who was between jobs so she could provide support).
- Determine location and design for a Happy Place.
- Contact local garden clubs to help.
- Check with local construction/stone companies for donations, including pavers to be engraved.
- Check with engraving companies to create an order form for pavers. Once you receive a price per paver, you can charge an additional amount to help you create funds for maintenance expenses (i.e. if the cost for engraving is $20 and you charge $40 per paver, you receive $20 to help with maintenance expenses).
- Local high school students and/or garden clubs start plantings that will eventually be added to the Happy Place.
- Begin marketing – write newspaper articles and newsletter articles for schools and churches, contact local television stations create a web site, put donation jars in local businesses.
- Actual construction: Once materials and funding are in place you are ready to begin construction. It’s important to involve as many community members as possible during construction days. Individuals feel better when helping and the work gets done in half the time. J
- Coordinate delivery of materials (landscapers did an amazing job on this).
- Prepare site (ours needed some ground removal and leveling).
- Coordinate food and drink for the workers (local service clubs can help here).
- Add plantings and locate volunteers to water them in the months that follow.
- Celebrate the completion of the project: Invite local media and hold a community event to thank large contributors (i.e. steering committee, landscapers, suppliers who donated materials, large monetary contributors, etc,). If possible, give plaques to these individuals/organizations and verbally thank all volunteers.
- Steering committee can begin planning for future phases. . . the possibilities are endless!
Phase II
Happy Place with accessible path. Path would be @40 long, 5’wide. Area off existing walk would be 5’x5’, and then path would be 5’ wide to Happy Place smile.
