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n Saturday, March 29, 2008, more than 300 volunteers, including staff from Ricoh Electronics, New Song Church, and members of the Santa Ana community, will be constructing a new playground at Jerome Park located in the heart of Santa Ana at 726 South Center Street. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m., project kick-off is at 8:30 a.m., and the event culminates with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2:30 p.m.

KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization, who’s vision is to create a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America, selected the City of Santa Ana as one of the sites for a series of Community-Build Playground projects taking place throughout California. California Volunteers is the City’s funding partner for the project. The event is being held in commemoration of Cesar Chavez and his service ethic. In addition to building a playground, volunteers will participate in planting a community garden, painting a Cesar Chavez mural and completing other improvement projects at Jerome Park, all in one day!

The Grain Project is taking the lead in developing an innovative community garden with key long-term volunteer commitment from Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and KidWorks. The beautiful Cesar Chavez mural was designed and is being produced by the children of the Jerome Park area. Volunteers are to be fed during their work day through the generosity of El Indio Tortilleria Restaurant. Knowlwood Restaurant will be providing food for volunteers doing preparation work before the event.

“Jerome Park is one of our most popular parks, yet has no playground. We are very grateful to the community volunteers, KaBOOM!, California Volunteers, and all the sponsors who assisted in making this project a reality, “ stated David Benavides, Santa Ana Councilman representing Ward 4, where Jerome Park is located.

Contact:       Jeannie Jurado
Telephone:  (714) 571-4251
E-mail:         This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it