News | Article and video from The Press Enterprise

Volunteers race to upgrade park

by Imran Ghori
View the video from The Press Enterprise

Fontana (August 30, 2007) - An army of volunteers descended upon North Tamarind Park on Thursday morning with the intent of giving the aging park a bright new makeover in a matter of hours.

About 300 volunteers helped construct playground equipment, repaint a gazebo and put in grass at the small community park at the north end of Fontana.

They planned to be finished by this afternoon. City officials plan to open the park for use on Sunday after giving time for concrete to set and the equipment to be inspected for safety.

The effort was a collaboration between Kaboom!, a nonprofit organization that constructs playgrounds across the nation, The Home Depot's Racing to Play program, which works to help children who live in NASCAR racing communities, the United Way's Hands On Inland Empire community service program and the city of Fontana.

NASCAR races are coming to the California Speedway near Fontana this weekend.

Third-grade students at North Tamarind Elementary School next door brought attention to the park when they wrote Fontana Mayor Mark Nuaimi asking for a restroom and playground equipment.

Kaboom! and Hands On Inland Empire soon became involved and invited the students to brainstorm ideas for the playground equipment that resulted in the final project.

The project includes two playground areas, one for ages 2 to 5 and the other for ages 5 to 12. The area for the younger children has slides, tunnels and climbing courses while the other one features a rock-climbing wall and a rope ladder.

"This is an older neighborhood park we have here and it needed some love," said Curtis Aaron, the city's public works director.

If the city had hired a contractor to do the job, it would have taken two to three weeks to complete, he said.

"With this level of manpower, we can get it done in a day," Aaron said.

He estimated that the labor donated Thursday was worth about $100,000. The equipment and sod cost $150,000, with the city and KaBoom! each putting up half.

Reach Imran Ghori at 909-806-3061 or ighori@PE.com 

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