About 250 people in Lakeside proved that Thursday when they built the city's newest playground in less than a day.

The group showed up at Lindo Park Elementary School on Thursday morning to build the 3,400-square-foot playground and finished it the same afternoon.

Among the volunteers was Damon Johnson, a produce clerk at an Albertsons in Vista. Johnson had the day off and decided to help. He brought along his wife and son, who will soon be leaving for college.

“It's about going out and doing something physical,” Johnson said. “I can go out and donate money, but this? I'm a part of it, a part of the blood, sweat and tears.”

A Washington D.C.-based nonprofit called KaBOOM! has made a specialty of “Playground in a Day” projects across the nation. The group links corporate sponsors with agencies that need playgrounds and helps them drum up volunteer support. The organization's goal is to have a playground within walking distance of all children.

In this case, KaBOOM! linked Albertsons-Savon stores with the Lakeside Community Collaborative and the Lakeside Union School District. The collaborative provided $7,500 for the playground while Albertsons-Savon funded the rest. Aron Michalaski, a project manager for KaBOOM!, said the total price of the playground was between $60,000 and $70,000.

Albertsons-Savon also provided about half of the volunteers by soliciting help from employees at its stores around the county.

The new playground replaced one that was outdated and empty after state workers deemed some of the equipment unsafe, forcing the district to remove the pieces.

“It wasn't a real playground, it was a lot of open space,” said Nancy Fink, the district's director of social services.

The new playground has an 8-foot-high slide that doubles as a climbing wall and jungle gym, a shiny swing set with three swings and a tire, a sandbox and shade pavilions to give children shelter on sunny days. The playground also has an outdoor classroom with a chalkboard and benches arranged in the style of an amphitheater.

Volunteers wearing blue T-shirts simultaneously worked on all parts of the playground while pop and country music boomed out of a nearby public address system. While about two dozen people lifted the swing set into place, another two dozen shoveled and raked mulch on the perimeter of the playground. Others drilled the shade pavilions together while more people assembled parts of the slide.

Thursday's Lindo Lake project is the second “Playground in a Day” built in the Lakeside Union School District this year. The first was completed March 29 at Riverview Elementary School.

Michalaski, the project supervisor for KaBOOM!, said the first project was so successful that the district was invited to apply for a second.

Alan Schnepf is a San Diego-based freelance writer.