DeKalb children need a place to play, and they need your help.

Students are needed to help construct a playground between Sept. 22 and Sept. 26.

“Adventures In Barbland” is a community-funded and constructed project that will conclude on Sept. 26 with the grand opening of a 10,000 square-foot playground at Chesebro Park in DeKalb.

“We need skilled and unskilled laborers,” said Linda Higgins, an organizer of the event. “A skilled worker is one that can basically cut a straight line with a power saw comfortably. Unskilled labor is things like spreading ground cover, working as a ‘go for’ for the building crews, helping in child care and watching volunteers’ children. There is quite a variety of jobs,” Higgins said.

Food also will be served every day during construction. Volunteers also will be needed to set up and clean up for meals, Higgins said.

Volunteers have the choice of signing up for a four-hour shift or signing up for a time less than four hours that’s convenient for them, Higgins said.

“We are running four hour shifts beginning at eight in the morning and going until eight at night,” she said.

Although pre-registering helps the organizers find out where they need the most help, volunteers can just show up and help out also. “We need at least 100 volunteers per shift, so we need at least 300 volunteers altogether,” Higgins said.

Students without transportation can take Huskie Bus six, which goes past the park. “We’ve asked the bus company if they’ll stop right at the school, instead of the half block away they stop at now,” Higgins said.

Other things the project needs donations of are tools and food, Higgins said.

People can sponsor an individual board in the park, $3 for a small board and $6 for a large board, Higgins said. There also are other opportunities to donate, including buying an 8‘ by 8′ red or gray brick to be placed in a giant gameboard at the entrance of the park. Individuals or corporations can buy up to six lines of writing on the brick they sponsor.

The idea of a community-funded and built playground came from Rochelle, where a similar project was completed about two years ago, Higgins said.

“I took this information and approached the DeKalb Park Board,” Higgins said. “They approved it, and we’ve been fundraising ever since.”

Elementary school children from DeKalb were involved in the design of the park. “A designer came in February, and sat down with the elementary school kids,” she said. “The designer then took some of their ideas and incorporated them into the playground.”

The playground will have many things for kids to play on, including bridges, slides, swings, mazes, a tire tunnel, sandboxes, a horizontal ladder and even an outdoor classroom.

A fundraiser will kick off the week the playground is built, Higgins said. “On September 19 from two to seven in the afternoon there will be a pig roast at Hopkins Park,” she said. “For five dollars you get pork, corn and coleslaw, as well as entertainment.”

There are plans for two musical acts at the pig roast, as well as intermission acts, Higgins said.

Higgins is hoping for a good student turnout. “This is a good way for students to get out and get involved in the community,” she said. “They can find out that the townspeople really aren’t that bad after all.”