By LEAH WEATHERSBY

When Lauren and Glenn Yasuda think of playgrounds, they think of their late daughter, Annie. Annie Yasuda was only two years old last November when she suddenly passed away in her sleep. Before her untimely death, her mother says, she loved visiting Seattle's many playgrounds.

When the family's friends and relatives heard the sad news about Annie, they started asking which charity they could make donations to in her honor. It was then that Glenn Yasuda suggested the playground project at Meadowbrook Community Center, near the family's home . Although donations have been coming into the Annie's Playground Fund (a sub-account of the Meadowbrook Advisory Council) for months, neighbors only recently formed a group, called Friends of Annie's Playground, to lead the effort. Lauren Yasuda and another Meadowbrook resident, Jacquie Lindseth, are serving as co-chairs.

The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department was already planning to renovate the playground at the Meadowbrook Community Center in conjunction with two other projects, remodeling the Teen Life Center at 10750 30th Ave. NE and renovating a ball field adjacent to the Community Center. They had budgeted $350,000 for the playground alone - already a tidy sum - but Maureen Colaizzi, a neighborhood project planner with the Parks Department, said the planned $150,000 contribution from Friends of Annie's Playground, will make the park even better.

"They can add the really cool stuff to this project," Colaizzi said, referencing public art an example. "A lot of people will come into the project that may not have before because of their passion for children."

So far, Friends of Annie's Playground has raised about $40,000, $10,000 of which came from the Meadowbrook Advisory Council. Other local groups including students from Nathan Hale High School, have also held fund-raisers. Friends of Annie Playground plans to apply for a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant from the City next year. The project will likely be completed in 2004.

The park won't officially be called Annie's Playground, but Lauren Yasuda said there will be reminder of her daughter in the remodeled play area.

"We'll have her name somewhere," she said, adding "(Annie) was just a sweet, wonderful, happy little girl. She was so much fun to be with."

In addition to her parents, Annie is survived by her twin sister, Sophie, and an older brother, Nate.

The next meeting of the Friends of Annie's Playground will be on July 8, at 7 p.m. at the Meadowbrook Community Center. The group also plans to have a booth at the Lake City Summer Festival. Donations should be sent to the Meadowbrook Community Center c/o Pam VanDeWeghe,10517 35th Ave. NE, Seattle, 98125. All donations are tax deductible. For details, call the Meadowbrook Community Center at 684-7522.