Greetings, readers! Three years ago when I started as librarian, I mentioned the possibility of the library taking on Marvin’s Garden as a beautification project for the Village. Timing and money never worked out, but with this year’s reading theme, it just seemed to be the right time. And so, with a lot of support and hard work, it came to pass. As with all major undertakings there were those who made it all happen, and so begins the list of ‘thank you’s!”
First, to the Snyder Village Board: Chairman Joel Hunke, Tom Smeal, Gary Renter, Terry Walker, and Jessica Jindra . Thank you for allowing the library to work this project. Money is tight all over including the City budget, and it was extremely generous of them to approve this makeover.
Next, to Jim Siffring of Siffring’s Landscaping for designing such a beautiful space. We appreciate you and your crew’s efforts in helping us breathe new life into this little piece of Snyder. Special thanks to Dave Lass and Letty Dominguez for the refurbished benches, and to the Hunke family for the bike rack pad; they are perfect complements to the newly designed space.
Then to the Snyder Library Board: Marlene Snell, Doris Laird, Connie Kaup, Jesseca Hultgren and Beverly Meyer. This stalwart group of women generously gave their time and energies right along with our readers and other volunteers, and they had faith that together we could see it through. Many thanks to them – they serve Snyder well.
Next a huge thank you to the folks who did the ‘prep’ work. It took a lot of manual labor to clear this space in preparation for our Summer Readers. HUGE kudos to Dave Hultgren, Joshua Dominguez, Daymen Jurisch, Joel Hunke, and Alex Nuno for the digging, stump removal, pulling, raking, and scraping needed before we could even begin – thank you.
Money is always important and this project could not have been accomplished without generous donations. Most people who donated requested specifically not to be mentioned by name (you know who you are!!), but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us to pay for this project. A special thank you to Mary Becker and the family of Dale Becker, and to Deb and Dave Wollberg (on behalf of Roxanne Mead) for your memorial gifts to the project. We appreciate Dan Dirkschneider at the Snyder Mini-Mart for allowing us to put out a donation jar. Every penny collected helped – thank you to everyone who took money from their own pockets to help us build a better world. We intentionally decided not to ask businesses for money since in our present economy they have enough to deal with on a daily basis without being pestered by organizations seeking money. Therefore, we send special thanks to Hunke Manufacturing for their generosity; their donation was unexpected and very much appreciated.
But most importantly, thanks are due to the actual workers of this project; the Snyder Library Summer readers and teen volunteers. This group of extraordinary children engaged in this project without blinking an eye and with no questions asked. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a summer reading program that asked the participants to do physical labor for a community project – and yet they did it. As you have looked at the pictures of our four weeks together, you will see energetic, smiling faces – eager to clean and rake, haul limestone, plant the plants, and lay the mulch. They worked tremendously hard, and everyone in the Village should be proud of these children for helping to build a better world in Snyder. Here is the list of everyone in that group that contributed their time to make this project happen:
Isabel Belina, Madelyn Belina, Oliver Belina, Henry Diekemper, Nyome Harding, Ava Hultgren, Cooper Kreikemeier, Jacob Lass, Isabella McAtee, Max McAtee, Braxton Wisnieski, Stuart Wisnieski, Connor Kreikemeier, Joshua Dominguez, Victor Zamora, Nora Metschke, Sailor Snell, Addison McAtee, and Daymen Jurisch.
So again, a huge thank you to everyone involved in this project. And an extra-special thank you to my husband, Brian Nelsen – he went several nights without meals, and he even came up to help haul the limestone! I thank you, my dear, very, very much. Now, if we’ve unintentionally forgotten to name someone, please forgive us, but know we sincerely appreciate ALL efforts. As to Marvin’s Garden…if you stop by, you’ll agree, we did indeed build a better world. We hope you will appreciate and USE this new space created for you.