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A festive new reading area on the grounds of the Bedford Public Library owes its existence to a 12-year-old girl who wants to spread joy.
The charming spot features a bench encircling a tree wrapped in colorful hand-crocheted patchwork. Brightly painted rocks with inspirational messages adorn the area.
“I like helping people out,” says Anya Ali, a seventh-grader at Cross Timbers Middle School in Grapevine.
Decorating the “Happiness Tree” met the requirements to earn her a Girl Scout Silver Award, but Anya went above and beyond.
Working with the library board and director Maria Redburn, Anya set up a donation box and enlisted the help of friends and relatives to raise $1,326 to buy the wraparound bench.
“The library is so grateful that Anya approached us with the Happiness Tree project,” Redburn says. “The Happiness Tree with the bench will bring lots of joy to the community and give readers a shady spot to read.”
Anya says she got the idea when her grandmother crocheted a sweatshirt for her.
“I thought it would look good on a tree,” she says. “She taught me how to do it and made a bunch of crochet patches. My other grandma suggested some friends who could also help us out.”
All together, the intergenerational team crocheted 225 patches that Anya stitched into a garland for the tree trunk. Anya also painted 125 river rocks with messages like “Stay positive.”
She also felt the pleasure of aiding others last summer when she led kids on her street to craft and sell decorative initials in order to buy a pricey Lego set for a neighborhood child who was hospitalized with bone cancer.
Says Anya, “I think I will continue doing things like that, and maybe bigger stuff.”