Charities Pitch In For New Sulphur Springs Playground

A coalition of charities and a group of volunteers will converge Saturday morning on one of Tampa's poorest neighborhoods to have a new playground built before supper time. A new KaBOOM! playground will be installed at the soon-to-open Layla's House: An Early Child and Parent Community Learning Center, 1506 E. Eskimo St., beginning at 8:30 a.m.

According to the organizers' schedule, the ribbon will be cut by 3 p.m.

"These are done-in-a-day playground builds," said Mike Vietti, spokesman for KaBOOM!, a Washington DC-based non profit that builds playgrounds in underserved communities. "We'll mix over 10,000 pounds of concerete by hand, lay over 35,000 square feet of safety surface by hand, plus add extra things like benches and picnic tables. We like to think of them as old fashioned barn raisings, only with a playground instead."

Pitching in will be the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA and the Tampa Bay Rays. The playground is funded by Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg through his Sternberg Family Foundation. The foundation has declined to disclose the playground's price tag. It also partnered with KaBOOM! to build a playground in Riverview in 2009 and in St. Petersburg in 2010.

This is also the third KaBOOM! playground project for the Tampa YMCA. The Bob Sierra Youth and Family Center in Carrollwood and Camp Cristina in Riverview also have KaBOOM! playgrounds.

The Tampa YMCA broke ground for Layla's House on July 18. Construction on the $500,000 project is expected to complete by mid February, according to Y spokesperson Rebecca Bray.

Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn and Tampa City Council member Frank Reddick are also scheduled to be on hand Saturday.