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.
