Volunteers Team Up To Create New Playground At Elementary School

DENVER (CBS4) - Volunteers teamed up in northeast Denver on Saturday outside an elementary school to build a new playground whose design was based on drawings by children.

The event took place at Roots Elementary School on 3350 Hudson Street, which is in the Holly Square area. School administrators worked together with the nonprofit KaBOOM! and the insurance company Travelers to organize Saturday's event.

"Building the playground here on the site of the former shopping center that was burned down really sends a message I think to our neighborhood, to the city, that Holly Square now is a place that is safe and open to kids and families," said Jonathan Hanover, the executive director of Roots School.

In 2008 a fire destroyed six businesses and caused more than $2 million in damage at the Holly Square Shopping Center. Investigators say it was the result of gang activity.