Volunteers build playground at Tampa's Wellswood Park

TAMPA — A big pile of mulch sat waiting at Wellswood Park Thursday morning as volunteers began rolling in, chatting and drinking coffee. Six hours later, it was a new playground.

The Mutual of Omaha Foundation, Kaboom playground builders, Playworld Systems playgrounds and the city of Tampa organized the project for the kids at the Wellswood Community Center.

It's the sixth playground funded by Mutual of Omaha and built by volunteers around the country this year. Children from each community choose the equipment and colors and volunteers do the work.

Christine Johnson, president of the foundation, said each playground costs $75,000 to $100,000.

In Tampa, the kids who attend the after-school program at the Wellswood center chose lime, plum and blue for their jungle gym. More than 100 kids go to the center and submitted playground ideas, said Sherisha Hills, the park supervisor.

Johnson said about 250 volunteers signed up for Thursday's project.

No power tools were used, just shovels and Allen wrenches, she said. Builders with Kaboom and Playworld Systems were there to make sure everything was built to safety standards.

Karen and Larry Naef of Land O'Lakes heard about the project through a networking group. As volunteers slapped on name tags and headed to the site, they said they were a little nervous about the expected heat, but looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labor.

"It's a very concrete project," Karen Naef said. "There's going to be something here for the community when we're done."

The playground appeared complete Thursday evening, with only some yellow construction tape surrounding the site.