Federal Way gardener’s vision continues to bear fruit | Hometown Hero

Published 3:30 pm Friday, April 24, 2026

Mike Stanley has always been involved in the community, but his latest legacy has spanned the last 17 years while producing thousands of pounds of food for Federal Way.

Stanley is the founder of the community garden at the Federal Way Senior Center and the one at Truman High School. He has been a consistent source of support for the construction of many other gardens around the city, especially in local schools.

At 84, he is turning the Federal Way Senior Center garden over to new leadership. Although the garden is at an uncertain chapter, Senior Center Executive Director Shelley Puariea shared the community response to the need for new engagement has already been positive.

For his contribution to creating this community garden, and serving the community in many different ways over the years, Mike Stanley is the Mirror’s Hometown Hero for April 2026.

The garden

The Federal Way Senior Center garden is located at 4016 S. 352nd St. in unincorporated King County, and features raised beds, with many high enough to be accessed without having to kneel on the ground or by someone in a wheelchair. Mature fruit trees line a gravel walkway, and when the season is right, vibrant flowers frame the entrance with their colorful blooms.

The garden can produce up to 10,000 pounds of organic produce a year with the right community investment of time and effort. This usually includes a wide-ranging harvest of cabbages, carrots, tomatoes, beans, garlic, onions and even flowers for bouquets.

Designed in a potager garden style, longtime volunteer Martha Collins describes it as “more than a garden.”

“It’s a nice place … you can walk through it, there are fruit trees … it’s a place not just to grow things, but to relax and meditate, even,” Collins said.

The produce grown there finds its way into bags of food distributed through the Senior Center Food Pantry and in meals served at the senior center itself. The food pantry also acts as a small distribution hub for other local food access partners like local churches, and for many years, produce from the garden has also been delivered to SHAG housing.

A vision made real

“In the summer of 2006, I got the idea that we should have a community garden,” Stanley said.

The idea came from realizing that many of the people living at SHAG housing where Stanley’s father-in-law lived were living “barely on the edge financially,” which meant “their ability to buy organic, fresh vegetables was really hard.”

Stanley was already a Master Gardener, so he thought to himself that this was something he could contribute to the community. He started to look around to see where he could potentially grow a garden, and the senior center had a small area started that they were using to share with kids in the area.

“They had a little greenhouse there … a few little things, but it was not much … I had a much bigger vision,” Stanley said.

Despite his expertise, he knew this was not something he could build alone. So he began reaching out to local organizations and businesses to see who would be willing to help.

Chris Brown at Lloyd Construction was one person who responded. He “jumped on board, and he brought all kinds of help to us to get that senior center garden going,” Stanley said.

Another essential partner was Teri Hickel, who Stanley said “knew everybody in the whole city,” and credits with helping him find people to really get it going.

These are just a few of the community members and volunteers who have stepped in throughout the years to help keep the garden going. Martha Collins is another who has been involved in the garden for over a decade and managed its operation over the past year when Stanley had to step back his involvement.

After retiring from Boeing about 29 years ago, he said, “I had a really good career and I just knew I wanted to give back, so I did a lot of different things, I got involved in a lot of different organizations.”

In addition to his work with the gardens, he has been president of the local Audubon chapter, a men’s pastor, secretary of a local beekeeping group, member of the Federal Way Community Caregiving Network, and has maintained his credentials as a Master Gardener, among other roles.

Gardening in particular has been a consistent thread through his entire life.

“I just like growing things,” Stanley said. “I’ve always grown things.”

It has been hard to step away from his leadership role, but it became necessary, and while Collins took on the responsibility last year, she too needs to step away.

“It hurts us to see the garden not being used. It really does. It’s a beautiful garden,” Stanley said. “We put a lot of our blood, sweat and tears into it, and we worked hard for it. And you know, I felt bad when I had to say, I have to stop. But I did. I just had to stop.”

A few weeks ago, most of the garden’s beds were covered in the black plastic that keeps weeds away during the winter and only some sprigs of garlic sprouts and steadfast fruit trees were growing.

A few volunteers have started to come forward to help with the spring planting that needs to be done now for a bountiful harvest in the summer and fall, and more help is needed.

“It would be tragic if this garden just falls into this repair and it’s not used … to have the ability to grow 10,000 pounds of organic fruit and vegetables every year, and to have that go away,” volunteer Doug Johnson said. “It has everything you need. All you’ve got to do is show up.”

How to help

For those interested in volunteering to help lead or tend to the garden, contact Shelley Puariea at shelleyp004@gmail.com or at 253-838-3604.