Volunteers come together to build playground for neglected Fresno neighborhood

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A neglected Central Fresno neighborhood, that's been the recent focus of the city, got a new playground Saturday.

Volunteers built it at Fresno Interdonimational Refugee Ministries, just across the street from the Summerset Village Apartments.

If building furniture is the true test of a relationship, then these volunteers will be life-long friends.

And when you build an entire playground in just one day, you need help from a few hundred of your closest family members.

"It makes for a really cool experience when the kids get to play on mom's playground or dad's picnic table," project manager Brittany Riley said.

These people built a home away from home for a community of refugees that were victims of substandard housing for months.

"This is not about other communities coming here to build a playground to save the refugee people," FIRM director Zach Darrah said. "This is the community of refugees coming together for themselves."

It's one of three playgrounds funded by Kaiser Permanente, FIRM and with support from non-profit KaBOOM! that are being built to serve underprivileged communities.

And no one knows what that means more than 12-year-old Amy Sengchanh.

"At first, I thought they were going to make another playground," she exclaimed. "Then I see those signs over there and it said 'Energi,' so, I was like 'oh, they're going to make an exercise place.'"

Her ailing mother lives across the street and is essentially paralyzed from a stroke.

"The doctor said she needs to exercise more, and I think this would actually really help her," Sengchanh said.

For a community that's rebuilding itself from the ground up, the view from the bottom looks pretty nice.