The Sensory Garden
The Sensory Garden at the Audio-Reader building on the University of Kansas campus.
Audio-Reader is a reading service for the blind, visually impaired and print disabled.
The staff and volunteers for Audio-Reader decided that merely reading to the visually impaired wasn’t enough. So they created a garden for the senses.
Many plants are selected for their fragrance.
Some for their texture.
It was Diana Frederick who began the garden in 1996 as part of Make a Difference Day. She gathered a bunch of volunteers and they started a tiny patch. Over the years, it has grown. A walkway has been added and a gazebo.
“It’s a labor of love,” Diana said of the garden.
Diana Frederick started working for Audio-Reader right out of college. In fact, she was a volunteer while attending KU. For years, she served as Volunteer Coordinator and is now Director of Development.
Various wind chimes add sound to the sensory garden. In the background is the Kansas Public Radio/Audio-Reader building.
Last week, the Gazette ran my feature story about Audio-Reader: Reading to Others.
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And today’s Flyover People column talks about the sensory garden and the staff at Audio-Reader.
Filed under: Kansans, columns, on the radio on August 28th, 2007
What a wonderful Tribute to the many people that volunteer hour after hour so that others have the priviledge of keeping up with living in our society and fullfilling their lives with so much enjoyment. And . . . the pictures of the Sensory Garden is absolutely fantastic. There have been many lives touched by the contribution that each of these volunteers and the staff have made.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Cheryl. This has certainly been an inspiration to me today.
Thanks again, Cheryl.
What Onnalee said–”ditto” for me! You have been opening our eyes for quite a while now, Cheryl, and now we LOOK at everything and APPRECIATE the scenery (and each other) and, boy, do we know a whole lot more about Kansas! Thank you!!