The new, improved park will officially open on Sunday at 6 p.m. On Tuesday, there were people of all ages, some professional, some not, all weathering the heat as they dug with shovels, placed heavy posts in the ground, sawed and hammered. Prisoners in striped uniforms were working over here, organizers with clipboards were directing workers over there while volunteers were asking for more jobs to do. In short, it was organized chaos. With a purpose.
Total strangers get to become friends.
There's a real sense of pride that everybody came together and built something so wonderful. In addition to making KidsPlace more accessible to handicapped people, volunteers also will add basketball courts, a tree house, a submarine that sprays water and swings for disabled children. There are a variety of jobs waiting for volunteers, ranging from construction to childcare to registration. In 1998, the Junior League decided to expand KidsPlace Unlimited when league members discovered that 8,000 disabled children in Corpus Christi could not play in the park. Rubber surfaces, wheelchair ramps and shorter water fountains will be added to allow everyone full enjoyment of the park.