Los Gatos Weekly-Times New playground needs volunteers Where and how can a playground get built in just five days? In Los Gatos, of course, and with the help of the community spirit the town is so often known for. This time, the beneficiaries are the children at the Los Gatos Parent Nursery School, a nonprofit cooperative since 1946. The school's current playground was built in 1970 by another group of volunteers and was modified in the 1980s, but it does not meet the safety and wheelchair-accessibility standards that all California playgrounds must meet by the year 2000. In response, parents helped raise funds and consulted with a company experienced in designing and constructing community-built playgrounds. Dubbed "Kids Kingdom," the facility will become reality Oct. 21-25, when volunteers rally together and construct a playground in a process similar to an old-fashioned barn-raising. The new playground will include tunnels, twisty slides, a water play area, an obstacle course and a lighthouse. Anyone with time and energy to spare is welcome; people are needed for tasks ranging from sanding, cutting and nailing to serving food to other volunteers. Each shift is four hours long and includes free food, drinks and a commemorative T-shirt. For more information, call Beth Leary at 354-1433. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 14, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.