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Helen Keller Centennial garden in Manito celebrates humanitarian legacy

Members of the Lions Club, including Larry Domrese (left), Nancy Domrese (center) and Lee Teichmer, lay bark in the new Helen Keller Garden in Manito Park on June 1, 2018. The garden is located across from 20th Avenue and is visible from South Grand Boulevard. (Libby Kamrowski / The Spokesman-Review)
Members of the Lions Club, including Larry Domrese (left), Nancy Domrese (center) and Lee Teichmer, lay bark in the new Helen Keller Garden in Manito Park on June 1, 2018. The garden is located across from 20th Avenue and is visible from South Grand Boulevard. (Libby Kamrowski / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo
By Rachel Sun rachels@spokesman.com(509) 459-5027

A new garden in Manito Park will commemorate humanitarian and ACLU co-founder Helen Keller as the centennial project for the Spokane Lions Club.

The garden is built around a silver linden tree Keller is believed to have planted in Manito Park during a visit to Spokane in 1925.

Keller also spoke to the Lions Club while in Spokane, and helped to inspire many of the humanitarian efforts the club continues on an international level today.

“It was she who gave us our mission of serving the hearing and sight impaired,” said Centennial Committee Chair Gary Guenther.

The Lions Club is paying for 80 percent of the roughly $17,000 garden, Guenther said. The rest comes from the Spokane Parks Department.

The garden is approximately 110 feet by 60 feet, and is specifically designed to be enjoyable for both sighted and blind visitors. It includes a Braille plaque explaining the story of Keller planting the tree and a variety of fragrant flowers.

“We hope this might be the first stage of development in the area to provide other offerings for the sight impaired,” Guenther said.

There are also two benches engraved with quotes in English from the famous humanitarian.

The garden should be finished this weekend, and will be officially dedicated June 8, which Mayor David Condon has declared Helen Keller Day in Spokane.