MARYSVILLE — Members of the Marysville and Tulalip communities teamed up for the second year in a row to take part in a “RED Day,” this time for the Marysville Boys & Girls Club.

Last fall’s “RED Day” saw turnout from the Marysville office of Keller Williams Realty and the Tulalip Tribes’ Adult Education Services Division work to improve the grounds of the Tulalip Homeless Shelter, and on May 12 of this year, volunteers from both organizations improved the grounds and prepared the building of the Marysville Boys & Girls Club for a fresh coat of paint.

While roof crews chipped and pressure-washed away the old paint on the building, other laborers installed sturdy fencing to prevent visitors from parking on the grass outside of the Rudy Wright Memorial Field where the Marysville Little League plays its home games.

“We’ve already had a lot of donations from throughout this area,” said Bonnie Ramsey, unit director for the Marysville Boys & Girls Club, who noted that her club nonetheless didn’t have any budget left for painting or grounds improvements. “It’s been fantastic to see all these people giving of their time to do this. It’s turned out nice and sunny, but they started pressure-washing the day before when it was just dumping rain all over them.”

According to Ramsey, not only is a new paint job badly needed, but so too was a barrier to prevent game spectators from driving over the concrete barriers of the club’s parking lot into the grass surrounding the baseball field.

Tulalip Tribal member Timothy Root helped plant trees and shrubs on the grounds, and expressed pride in being able to participate in the event.

“There’s nothing hard to it,” Root said, after he’d finished patting down the soil. “I enjoy playing in the dirt.”

Mike Hansen, operating principle for Keller Williams in Marysville, estimated that close to 80 employees of his office alone made it out to take part in the “RED Day,” which stands for “Renew, Energize and Donate.”

“We met several times to plan this with RoseAnn Green,” Hansen said of the manager of the Tulalip Tribes’ Adult Education Services Division. “Nobody succeeds alone, especially with the amount of work we had to accomplish.”

Hansen credited Cuz Concrete, the Marysville Co-Op, Stanwood Redi-Mix, Beach Street Topsoil & Gravel and AWR Construction Services with contributing supplies and finances, while Emerald Hills Coffee provided refreshments.

“In tough economic times you can still generate money by getting $50 here and $100 there,” Hansen said. “When we come together as one, it’s amazing what can happen.”

“This tells us how important the relationship is between our two communities,” Tulalip Tribal Chair Mel Sheldon Jr. said. “We appreciate the mayor and community of Marysville reaching out to us to help the Boys & Girls Club together.”

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring likewise praised Sheldon, as well as Green and Hansen, for helping continue the “RED Day” from last year.

“It’s good when we can reach across the freeway to benefit our communities as a whole,” Nehring said. “These groups donating labor and supplies allow us to do that without any expense to the city.”