Giving up a Saturday was more than equitable to students who made a lasting mark on the Ames community.

Upbeat music, students making mulch-angels and smiling and laughing were abundant at Leaders INspiring Connections’ Operation Playground, the goal of which was to build three new playgrounds during the course of one day. The volunteers consisted primarily of fraternity and sorority members.

Construction of the playground at North River Valley Park, 725 E. 13th St., was started at 9 a.m. and three hours later, a nearly complete playground, designed for 5- to 12-year-olds, was waiting for cement to be delivered to secure the equipment in the ground. The same was the case for the playground at Old Town Park, 826 Douglas Ave., and at Gateway Hills Park, 1500 Gateway Hills Park Drive.

Margaret Shangle, sophomore in electrical engineering, said her sorority usually donates time and money to Veishea events, but because of Veishea’s suspension this year, her sorority decided to get involved with Operation Playground.

“This is a replacement event since there is no Veishea this year,” she said. “Usually, we donate money and time to Cy’s Big Top, so this year we took the money we use for that event — about $900 — and donated it to LINC for this playground.”

LINC coordinators said Operation Playground is one of the largest student donations to the city in history. Overall, the project cost $45,000, or about $15,000 per playground. LINC gathered donations from many different sources, including a $9,000 donation from the city.

Kristen Koch, sophomore in construction engineering, said she is glad she can give back to the Ames community.

“This is a way of showing we can do something besides riot,” Koch said. “We do care about this community.”

Adam Clemons, junior in construction engineering, said work on the project was smooth and uneventful.

“We had a good group of people working on this,” he said. “Everyone caught on real quick.”

Rick Ertz, a representative from Outdoor Recreation Products, the company that provided the playground equipment, was on site at Old Town Park to help make sure the students knew how to properly assemble all the pieces.

He said the owners of the company were excited to help with the project because of their connection to Iowa State.

“Steve and Barb King, the owners of the company, are both ISU alumni,” Ertz said. “When students contacted them, they were very excited to help.”

Celeste Ogren, senior in elementary education, said her sorority helped raise several thousand dollars for the project.

“We wanted to do something we could bring our kids to see 20 years from now and say, ‘I helped make this,'” she said.

Eric Yarwood, co-adviser to the LINC executive committee, said Operation Playground had nothing but support since its inception.

“Everyone got on board,” he said. “The city, community members, students, student groups, the university — everyone.”