MARYSVILLE — A pair of 11-year-old Marysville fifth-graders have made it their mission to help out the town of Marysville, after the town was destroyed by fires.

If you hadn’t heard about the fires, it might be because the town of Marysville that these two girls are helping out is in the state of Victoria, in the country of Australia.

In mid-February, Liberty Elementary fifth-grader Celena Davis and her grandmother, Toni Kief, were out of town when they heard on the radio that Marysville had burned to the ground. This alarmed them until they learned that the news story was about the Marysville in Australia, but in spite of finding out that the story wasn’t about her hometown, Davis remained concerned for the welfare of the residents of the “other Marysville.”

Davis and her cousin, Kellogg Marsh Elementary fifth-grader Casey Smith, enlisted the aid of Kief, as well as Smith’s grandmother, Penny Dry, and Davis’ brother, Jacob, in a campaign to furnish the Australian town of Marysville with books. This might sound like an unusual choice, but Davis and Smith, both avid readers, explained their reasons.

“Their library burned down,” Davis said. “They’re spending their days rebuilding their houses, but without books, they don’t have anything to do to relax.”

Kief pointed out that, in a town that was so devastated by fires, even modern conveniences like television and the Internet have become luxuries. She and Dry have helped their granddaughters create fliers for their campaign, but for the most part, Davis and Smith’s grandmothers have been impressed with what self-starters the girls have been, by researching news stories about the Australian fires on their own. The two girls have not only received permission to distribute those fliers in their schools, but they’ve also contacted the city of Marysville, in Washington, about their campaign on behalf of the Marysville in Australia.

The girls have already gone through their own books to find donations for their campaign, and they’re looking for “anything that a library might need,” including general interest books, CDs and DVDs. They’d like to get the local Sno-Isle Libraries involved as well, especially since the Marysville Library has supported campaigns on behalf of other countries in the past.

For more information, or to volunteer to help, you can call Toni Kief at 360-568-6307.