Cascade People's Center was started about twelve years ago when some neighbors noticed an abandoned building and wondered if it could serve the community. Enthusiasm was high, and soon the place became a model of grassroots activism, embracing the neighborhood and maintaining a high priority for activities to be free of charge to ensure that all people would be welcomed.
Yesterday the girls and I were there three times. First to deliver a card, then back across the street and up the stairs to retrive "diver guy," which Cedar intensely needed to work with in a paper Victorian doll house that is there, then a third time for a meeting. The card, diver guy, and meeting were just the start of our experience there. In between, we had several conversations with neighbors, found and completed a skeletal system craft, read several books, met a new friend and joined him at the playground, etc.
The furnishings aren't fancy, the toys are mostly hand me downs that often have missing parts. There is a rug but no vacuum cleaner. It smells similarly to a nursing home or a place that offers services to folks who have a hard time keeping up with hygiene. Don't get me wrong. Improving these particular characteristics will likely happen soon and be an iwonderful thing. But we already love it. And more importantly, my girls love it. There are toys there. There are nice people there. It is our neighborhood get together spot. There is a sign on the wall that says "Children should be seen, heard, and believed," and the folks in charge actually live that out. Score.
Places like this are crucial to a neighborhood. They are holy ground where people can listen to each other and share resources. They are safe. They are welcoming. Sometimes, when I imagine abiding in the vine (as in, when Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches") I see it in our context growing in the earth where CPC is. That whole block--the center, playfield, playground and P-Patch--right across the street from our little private dwelling--that is the earthy heart of my community. And there is a vine giving it life.
