SANDPOINT — Quiet. Reflection. Inspiration.

The new Inspiration Garden at the Sandpoint Senior Center is designed to do just that — not just for the community's seniors but for anyone looking for a quiet place to relax and reflect.

The new garden, located at the Sandpoint Area Seniors site on Main Street, was celebrated at a special ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.

Inspiration for the garden began after former Board President Loris Michael passed away unexpectedly just over a year ago.

"Loris devoted years to SASi and making it a place for connection, inclusiveness and caring," SASi board president Lindsey Hughes said.

It was that devotion, both to SASi and the community, that launched the garden. That vision led SASi's board to talk with landscape architect Karen Oleson, then the owner of Aster Garden Center, to create a permanent tribute that would transform SASi’s self-described unkempt and little-used garden into something special.

Helping turn the transformation from vision to reality was Scott Rockholm, who donated time and labor to the project. The installation allows for continued expansion as brick sales continue, Hughes said.

A memorial bench for Michael was the first step, with Loris’ family and friends purchasing bricks with inscriptions honoring her. Those tributes would inspire others to purchase similar bricks to memorialize their own family members and friends.

Some bricks share quotes. Some echo familiar song lines, “How Far Is Heaven?” and some give hope, like “Life is a gift. Untie the ribbon.”

While work remains to fully capture Oleson's design, SASi officials said the ribbon-cutting event offered a chance to showcase the garden and celebrate both the individual behind its inspiration and what it offers to the community.

The garden has also drawn support from Northern Flowers, All Seasons, and Aster garden centers.

"They have helped make the dream a work-in-progress reality," chamber executive director Joan Urbaniak said. "Work will continue in the spring with more perennials and as brick sales continue."

The senior center has been a welcoming spot for more than 50 years, dating back to 1974 when a group led by Alamae Cox opened SASi's first home on Pine Street through a collaboration with local restaurants to feed homebound seniors. Since its founding, the center has served and delivered thousands of meals a month and has offered a welcoming place for the community to gather and connect.

Cox, who moved to Sandpoint with her husband, Lloyd, in the 1970s, loved the vibrant senior center at her former home in El Cajon, Calif. When she realized a similar option wasn't available in Sandpoint, Cox decided to take action, and soon the Bonner County Senior Citizens Council was open to welcome the community's seniors.

The center, incorporated on Jan. 1, 1974, would later be rechristened as Sandpoint Area Seniors on Jan. 7, 1988.

In the mid-1980s, the center opened its own commercial kitchen where, to this day, it prepares meals for both homebound seniors and folks looking for a good meal on-site.

In any given month, the center serves untold numbers of meals at its Main Street location and delivers more than 2,000 meals to seniors throughout Bonner County.

Visitors to the center range in age from 50 to 98, with one of SASi’s main programs being the DayBreak Center, which, in addition to helping those with memory impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease, also provides respite for the families and caregivers of those individuals.

Located at 820 Main St., Sandpoint Area Seniors has been serving the Sandpoint area for just over 50 years, working to provide people age 50 and older with nutritious meals as well as serving as a gathering place and informational site for social, recreational and wellness programs.

In addition to the food services, the senior center hosts bingo, pinochle and other card games. The center also gives seniors access to a library and computer lab.

Information: sandpointareaseniors.org

    A few of the memory bricks at Sandpoint Area Senior's new Inspiration Garden. The garden was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Sept. 25.
  

    A resident points to a special memory brick, part of Sandpoint Area Senior's new Inspiration Garden. The garden was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Sept. 25.