JOHNSTON — When the development of a community’s athletic programs becomes threatened by ever-tightening budgets, members of that community can respond one of two ways. They can sit back, complain and do nothing. Or they can roll up their sleeves and find a way to become part of the solution.

Some people in Johnston have chosen the second option. As a result, next fall the town’s high school and middle school soccer teams, as well as about 800 other youngsters who participate in the recreation soccer program will finally have a state-of-the-art facility to call their own.

If the project remains on schedule, the Johnston Soccer Complex, which will be just above the high school on Atwood Avenue and will consist of one full-sized soccer field with lights and a slightly smaller field, will be ready for the start of the fall soccer season.

“I’ve lived in Johnston for 50 years and I’ve never seen a community come together to this extent and to this magnitude to get a project completed,” Daniel Mazzulla, Johnston’s director of Parks and Recreation, said Friday at an ppreciation luncheon held at the Johnston Senior Center to thank the many businesses that have donated their time, equipment and materials to help make the soccer complex a reality. “We are very grateful.”

Ever since the sport was introduced to Johnston’s recreation program in the late 1980s, soccer teams have been forced to play on the town’s softball and baseball diamonds, overtaxing the athletic facilities.

Plans for soccer fields first got under way 16 years ago, included in a larger community center project. Several years ago, the project appeared to be on its way, and work began to clear part of a 16.5-acre parcel behind the high school on Atwood Avenue. Because of various roadblocks, however, the land was still dormant last fall.

When he took office, Mayor Joseph M. Polisena backed the project after hearing a presentation from Johnston Community Center Association president Glenn Carroll and Johnston Youth Soccer Association president Mark Gilmore. But money still stood in the way.

Richard Pezzuco, the father of two daughters who play youth soccer, knew firsthand how badly the town was in need of fields. When he found money was lacking for the project, he and his brother, Ronald, decided to get involved. Owners of Pezzuco Construction, they sent their equipment to the Atwood Avenue site and began clearing the land themselves.

Soon other individuals got on board, all contributing their particular expertise.

Pezzuco Construction, DiGregorio Corporation, Patriot Hauling and Rosciti Construction have each donated more than $100,000 in time, labor and materials, said Johnston’s assistant recreation director Matthew LaFazia, who has been overseeing the project.

Others, including Best Electric, Calson Corporation, Casali & D’Amico Engineering, Contractors Supply, Graham Builders, Local 57 — Operating Engineering, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, Sitecon, Water Well System, Winwater Works Co. and Ridgewood Power have contributed generously, as well.

Money raised by the JCCA and a matching grant from the state Department of Environmental Management will help complete the complex.

“The stigma in Johnston is that people just take, take, take,” Ronald Pezzuco said. “But there are a lot of people in this town that have a giving heart. And it’s really about helping the youth. You can change a kid’s whole future by being able to play on that field, and I think everybody realizes that.”

cthorn@projo.com