New Place for Kids to Park It

FULLERTON — The many children in this tree-shaded neighborhood can walk to school, but they can’t walk to a playground.

Parents shuttle their children to a park a mile and a half away. For years, they have longed for a playground nearby.

Now, that is about to change.

A glistening new playground unit arose in Valencia Park on Saturday, complete with two slides, rings, a blue-roofed house and even a giant tick-tack-toe game. More than 100 volunteers toiled in the heat for hours to plant poles and turn screws in a project that joined a corporation, the city and a PTA. Watching were children who helped design this playground last spring, drawing their ideas on butcher paper with crayon.

“Every piece is from a kid’s imagination,” said one 11-year-old as he watched the playground grow.

The building project was spearheaded by Kimberly-Clark, which is donating $2.7 million to help build 34 playgrounds nationwide in towns where it has plants and offices. The effort, marking the firm’s 125th anniversary, is part of the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future, an April event aimed at mobilizing communities to help the poor and to spur charitable efforts.

In Fullerton, where a Kimberly-Clark plant makes paper towels and other products, organizers searched for a suitable spot for a playground, settling on a grassy area in the park next to Valencia Park School.

While the school has some old playground equipment, it is locked after classes, forcing children and even parents to climb over the fence to use it.

PTA President Sylvia Zapata Martinez, the mother of four, said she was enthralled with the notion of a community-built playground.

“I said, ‘Yes, we’ll do whatever it takes,’ ” Martinez recalled.

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So planning got underway, with coordination from Washington-based KaBOOM!, a nonprofit group that works on such projects nationwide. The Kimberly-Clark Foundation contributed $75,000 to pay for equipment, construction materials and technical help.

Three sixth-grade boys who helped design the project pointed Saturday at their recommendations--hoops to swing from and a monkey-bar-type contraption.

“I did the house on the top,” said Jersain Torres, 11. The reason? “Shade.”

Then came “Build Day,” as Saturday was called. Volunteer Peter Kennon of Fullerton, a Kimberly-Clark engineer, arrived at 5:30 a.m. Dozens of other community volunteers followed, and by early afternoon, the green-blue-and-yellow playground unit had taken shape.

“It’s extremely sturdy. It should last 25 years, 50 years or more,” said Charles Moriarty, manager of the Kimberly-Clark Fullerton plant.

Once finishing touches are done, the playground equipment will be open, possibly as early as next weekend.

Jenna N. Farley, field coordinator for KaBOOM!, said that even though she has seen nine or 10 such playgrounds built, she still gets excited to see projects come together.

“The best part about a playground,” she said, “is that it’s fun.”