Fickett Elementary was hoping for about 250 volunteers to show up Saturday for a playground build partnership with KaBOOM! and Foresters. About 540 showed up. That’s the kind of passion that the Ben Hill neighborhood has for the school, which welcomed a completely new playground (with a few surrounding extras) over the weekend.
“It’s about the business community supporting the surrounding community, and the community feeling like they have a place they can come to, a place they have a stake in,” said Fickett Principal Dr. Anthony Dorsey. “They built it, they can use it, and they can be proud of it.”
They sure did built it. The volunteers worked throughout the morning to pour some 15,000 pounds of concrete and move 150 cubic yards of mulch in preparing a swingset, a geodesic “superdome,” a spiral slide and an adventure tube in the main playground. Surrounding the playground and nearby are three mendocino benches, two shade structures and two planter bench trellises in this, KaBOOM!’s 1,700th playground! Fickett Elementary physical education instructor Jocelyn Williams helped kick off the activities by leading the volunteers in a morning stretch. The school’s Spirit Club kept everyone peppy with a cheer.