The school principal shoveled dirt around a metal pole and packed it down with his shoe. Hammers clanked. Six people walked by carrying a green slide, upside-down, its long spokes sticking up like caterpillar legs. Nearby, a big, yellow front loader and a smaller Bobcat rumbled back and forth, scooping up and dumping piles of wood shavings and gravel for people with rakes and shovels to spread under swings and slides and climbing walls.

It was the home stretch of a dream five years in the making: a new playground at Greater Plains Elementary School – one that would serve the whole school, including children in wheelchairs; one that would last for generations. It was a community coming together to make something happen, and I was lucky enough to witness a small part of it.

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Greater Plains was my school, and now it’s my daughter’s. On the first Saturday of October, I stood with my foil-lined box of cheese and crackers and pepperoni, on the same grass where I learned to turn cartwheels, and watched in awe as a playground took shape.

My job was to take trays of snacks around to the workers, some of whom had been at it all day. I was surprised by the variety of people involved. I expected to see teachers and PTO members, and they were there. But so were people with no direct stake in the playground. There were students and staff from SUCO, Hartwick, Oneonta High School and Job Corps; Phoenix House clients; Home Depot employees volunteering on their own time. There were couples who spent the whole day working – even though their kids no longer go to Greater Plains.

It wasn’t the first local playground built almost entirely by volunteers. This is the kind of thing that happens often in Oneonta: people rallying for a good cause. I was impressed by how many people got together — not just the volunteers who did the physical labor, but also the businesses that donated everything from power tools to pizzas and the parents who baked cookies and made phone calls and spent money at fund-raisers. Cumulatively, things as small as a handful of "Pennies for the Playground" dropped into a water jug at the school made a difference. In fact, one of the biggest accomplishments happened before the first shovel hit the ground: The PTO, under the leadership of former President Kathy Greenberg, raised a big chunk of the $139,000 needed for the project.

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On the day of the ribbon-cutting, school Principal Tim Gracy stood, surrounded by yellow caution tape, holding a megaphone in the middle of the playground.

"This is the day you have been asking me about for the last three weeks," he told the children of the school, who were lined up, facing him, on a strip of blacktop spanning the width of the playground. Greenberg snipped the caution tape in two, and there were cheers and squeals as Gracy invited the classes, a few at a time, onto the playground. In seconds, it was crawling with kids climbing and sliding and laughing, as some of the volunteers who made it possible smiled from the sidelines.

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Two weeks later, I’m still amazed at what a small group of people can do, working together, and drawing on the resources of a caring community. I’ve also come to realize that more than a playground was built during this project. It brought people together in a way that might not have happened otherwise — not just during the construction but also at fund-raisers like the annual Mardi Gras festival. During all the events leading up to the final ribbon-cutting, connections were made, bonds were formed, trust was built, and the community as a whole became stronger.

Reflecting on the building process, Gracy said, "I can almost look back and say that whole weekend will be something that I’ll always remember. It was three days of intense work, but there was also a level of camaraderie that you can’t really duplicate."

It seems the means were at least as valuable as the end. The slides and swings are expected to last for many years. I have a feeling some of the bonds formed through the project will, too.

Lisa Miller is a freelance writer who lives in Oneonta. She can be reached at lisamiller44@hotmail.com.