BERKELEY – A bayside play area at the end of Butler Boulevard used to be a hidden treasure for the township’s children, Mayor Carmen F. Amato said.
That was until superstorm Sandy came along in October of 2012 and decimated the playground, leaving behind only a hobby horse or two uprooted from the ground, the mayor said.
But on Saturday, almost 100 community volunteers pitched in to fill the void left by the devastating superstorm. With shovels and other implements in hand, 
members of various organizations set about building a new playground on the sandy banks of Barnegat Bay to replace the one destroyed in the storm.
The effort was boosted by Alexandra’s Playground, a New York-based charity that helps to build playgrounds in disadvantaged neighborhoods in memory of the Alexandra Vitale, who was killed in a boating accident in 2008, when she was 3 ½.
The young girl’s parents, Dr. Michael and Andrea Vitale formed the organization to honor their late daughter because she loved to play, said Trish Heywood, executive director of Alexandra’s Playground.
“They wanted to do something in her spirit,” Heywood said.
“We as an organization focus on communities in need — communities that would not get playgrounds otherwise,” Heywood said.
The township applied about seven months ago to become one of its next sites to build a playground, Amato said.
Dr. Michael Vitale, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, said the playgrounds cost between $50,000 and $100,000 to build, and Alexandra’s Playground asks the recipient community to kick in 10 percent of that and provide volunteers for the build.
Among those converging at the end of Butler Boulevard Saturday to assist in the effort were members of the U.S. Army Junior ROTC program from Central Regional High School, volunteers from St. Barnabas Knights of Columbus, Council 8603, Boy Scout Troop 76, township police officers, township committee members and residents, Amato said.
Katelyn DiMichele, 10, and her twin sister Kelsey were among those helping out.
“I like helping,” Katelyn said, adding that she looks forward to spending time at the new playground.
“It’s fun, and I built some of it,” she said.
“This is going to be their playground, too, because we live near here,” said the twins’ mother, Police Chief Karin DiMichele.
“Our job was to move all that mulch,” said Joe Bello, 16, one of the Junior ROTC members helping out.
“When we first came here, we raked out this entire area and put out the mulch and the dirt and planted plants,” said Gordon Petry, 16, with Boy Scout Troop 76, said of a sandy patch where volunteers were setting up to install a pirate ship, complete with slides and bridges.
“And we cleaned up the beach area,” Petry said.
Vitale was helping to install a swing set nearby. The playground also will include a spinner ball, which Vitale said is like a little merry-go-round, and a supernova, a rotating wheel to run on.
This is the 18th playground worldwide the organization has helped to build, Vitale said. Most of the playgrounds are in the tri-state area, but some have been in Haiti and one was built in Kabul, Afghanistan, he said.
The playground equipment came from Komban, a global playground manufacturing company headquartered in Denmar.
“We provide innovative playground solutions,” said Ken Dobyns, the company’s national sales manager. “We also firmly believe that playgrounds build community, and that’s why community builds are so critical.”
The mayor said he believes the playground will lift up a community that was squashed down by superstorm Sandy.
“Our community is still feeling the effects from superstorm Sandy,” Amato said. “A lot of people are still rebuilding. People see this and it gives them hope.”