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 HP Employees Make Alexi’s Garden a Labor of Love 26 Nov 2007
 During
her brief life—just 22 months—Alexi Ann Hendricks was happiest when
playing outside. HP employees celebrated her memory—and contributed
to a better future for kids with special needs—by volunteering
thousands of hours to create Alexi’s Garden, a playground in
Vancouver, Washington, that gives kids like her a safe place to play
outdoors.
A
Child’s Legacy
Alexi was born in August 2003 to Jeff
Hendricks, an R&D architect at HP Vancouver, and Karen Goulding-Hendricks. When their daughter was
diagnosed with global developmental delay, meaning she would not
reach developmental milestones at the rate other children did, the
couple sought help from The Arc of Clark County’s Parents Receiving
Intensive Development Education (PRIDE) program. The program helps
kids up to three years old who have developmental disabilities.
Alexi’s condition was so severe that it
impaired her eyesight and caused seizures, making it difficult for
her to explore the world around her as young children usually do. But
through classes and nurturing play with other children, PRIDE helped
Alexi develop her motor skills and other capabilities.
Alexi spent some of her happiest hours at the The Arc of Clark County’s Family Center.
After Alexi passed away in July 2005, Jeff and Karen wanted to pay
tribute to the community of PRIDE employees and parents who had
encouraged and supported them and their daughter.
Alexi’s Garden is the result. Designed to
share the pleasures of play while meeting the special needs of
developmentally challenged children, the playground features small,
accessible play structures and a level surface that accommodates
wheelchairs and other adaptive equipment.
“PRIDE did so much for Alexi, and this is a
way to give back,” Jeff Hendricks says. “It’s her legacy.”
Volunteers
Make the Difference
Jeff and Karen started developing the idea of
a playground for ARC shortly after Alexi’s death. By spring 2006,
they were organizing the project and raising money. They raised
approximately $300,000 in materials and in-kind services from
businesses and individuals in the Vancouver area. Construction was
completed in August 2006.
“The community support for the playground was
beyond all expectations,” says Claire Welander,
director of the PRIDE program. “We had very little help from big
grants. It was all local businesses that came together.”
As a local company in the Vancouver area, HP was a huge part
of the volunteer effort. In all, more than 160 HP employees
contributed more than 2,000 hours to the project, moving earth,
laying bricks and installing equipment. And that doesn’t include the
hundreds of hours that Jeff spent in the early planning phases. The
total number of volunteers and hours surpasses the total for any
other single U.S.-based project in HP history. HP employees were able
to use their “leadership training” days to create a playground that
would help other children as the PRIDE program had helped Alexi.
“It wouldn’t have happened without Alexi’s
spirit and her family’s drive,” Welander
says.
The playground was dedicated on August 19, 2006, the day after what would have been Alexi’s
third birthday. The name Alexi’s Garden came as a surprise to Jeff
and Karen, who had not expected that it would be named in their
daughter’s memory (they had been thinking of it simply as the PRIDE
playground).
The name is a gesture of appreciation for the
Hendricks’ ongoing support of the work PRIDE does with kids with
special needs. “This is a family that looked into the future and saw
a place where Alexi was happy,” says PRIDE’s
Welander. “They knew that what was good for
Alexi was something that all children could appreciate. It takes a
big heart to take a loss and look forward and turn it into a gift.”
Jeff and Karen formed indelible bonds with PRIDE’s community of parents, children and
caregivers during their time with Alexi, and they continue to stay in
contact with the program.
“It’s amazing the impact this little person
has had,” Jeff says.
To learn more about Alexi’s Garden
, visit http://www.arcfamilycenter.org/.
For information on other HP volunteer programs, please visit http://ca.corp.hp.com/ee/volunteer/index.htm
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