Andre’s Bench is a true story of a gift that was given after The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011. It is a story of a young girl in Ohio, who never met her grandmother from Ishinomaki, but honored her with a wish to rebuild the park in her grandmother’s hometown. It is also the story of a volunteer, Andre, who helped this young girl rebuild Matsunami Park, but passed away suddenly a year after it was built, and a Japanese carpenter in Ishinomaki whose sorrow was channeled to create this bench. While Andre’s bench is an intersection of many lives today dealing with loss, the bench represents a refuge, perhaps in our hearts, that we all need to go to express sorrow, to be heard, and to be understood. The story is a beautiful example of how positive and healing things can come out of something tragic.

You may feel someone very important who is invisible now when you sit on this bench. While I was sitting on the bench today, two sparrows flew by chirping on the cherry tree near the bench.

「アンドレさんのベンチ」という本を、オハイオ州（米）のムーア家のご寄付で出版できました。３．１１で破壊された石巻の松並公園を復旧し子供たちのために遊具をプレゼントしたアメリカ人の女の子と、その実現のために尽力したアンドレさんの物語です。公園の整備の後、急死したアンドレさんを偲んでベンチが設置されました。あの３．１１から喪失を抱える人達への慰め、そして悲哀を表現し、耳を傾け理解してもらる場所になればと思います。

もう見えないけれども、このベンチに座ると、もう会えない大切な人を感じることができるかもしれません。今日、ベンチに座っていたら二羽の雀が側の桜の木に飛んできて、何かしゃべっていました

ANDRE’S BENCH BY NAOMI CHIBA

This book is bi-lingual and has English and Japanese text in one book. It also contains photographs and illustrations.

COST: $20 DONATION

Your donation of $20 for Andre’s Bench will help build a Japanese Friendship Garden in Miller Ecological Park in Lebanon, Ohio.

HOW TO GET THE BOOK

Send an email to info@i-playground.org or use our Contact Us page to request a book.

In the Lebanon, Ohio area, books can be delivered upon request or they can be picked up at Touching Hearts at Home between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday.

Outside of Lebanon, Ohio, books can be shipped with additional postage cost.

Andre’s Bench close-up

Andre’s Bench Book on the actual bench in Matsunami Park.

Here are some photos from the event in Matsunami Park on June 4th, 2016, where Andre’s bench was installed, along with the planting of flowers and trees. The following is a message about the even from Naomi Chiba:

It was a beautiful sunny day. We installed a bench in honor of Andre Lampson who helped make a playground for children possible at Matsunami park, Ishinomaki, after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. He passed away last December at the age of 29. We planted flowers and trees, too. Over seventy people joined us. All was funded by Andre’s friends in the United States. It will be a bridge of the friendship between Japan and the United States, of which Andre dreamed. It was one the best days in my life. Thank you, everyone.

晴天のきれいな日でした。石巻の松並公園に、東日本大震災の後、子供向け遊び場を作ったアンドレ・ランプソンさんを記念してベンチを設置しました。アンド レさんは、２９歳で昨年１２月にご逝去されました。花や木も植えました。７０名以上の方々がご参加くださいました。アンドレさんのお知り合いのアメリカの 方々が、ベンチや花の資金提供してくださいました。アンドレさんの夢だった日米の架け橋の公園になるでしょう。私の人生でも素晴らしい日になりました。み なさん、ありがとうございました

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ベンチ寄贈と植栽のご案内

Hi everyone. There is an event scheduled on June 4th, at Matsunami Park in Ishinomaki, Japan, to install a new memorial bench and to plant new flowers and trees. The bench is being installed in memory of Andre Lampson, a volunteer who was important to the success of our Ishinomaki Playground Project, and who passed away last December.

Japanese Friendship Garden Project event @ Barnes and Noble Fields Ertel.

There will be a kamishibai (traditional storytelling with pictures) performance of _Mokoka and the Cherry Tree_  written by local author Yukiko Ryburn, origami demonstrations and other activities by the Japanese Culture Club from Lebanon High School, and bonsai display.

Barnes & Noble will be donating a percentage of their sales including online sales, from May 28th -June 1st to those who use our designated voucher. The money raised from this event will help create a Japanese Garden in Miller Ecological Park,which has a friendship/relationship with Matsunami Park in Ishinomaki, Japan, which was rebuilt in 2014.

All sales from 5/28-6/3 at the Fields Ertel Barnes & Noble, including online sales, with the linked voucher will help make this happen! Anyone anywhere in the world can make a purchase.

EVENT: Free & Open to Public! Celebration of budding friendship between Miller Ecological Park in Lebanon, OH and Matsunami Park in Ishinomaki, Japan.

WHEN: Sat. Aug. 8th 2015 10am -1pm

WHERE: Miller Ecological Park in Lebanon, OH

ACTIVITIES: Origami, Kamishibai-style story telling of Japanese folk tales, Karate demonstration, Japanese items and snacks for donations.