Renew, energize, donate

COEUR d'ALENE - Joe Threadgill has been in real estate long enough to laugh along at the suggestion that in the current real estate market, agents might as well be doing something beside trying to sell property.

He and about 30 others from Keller Williams Realty Coeur d'Alene did just that on Thursday during the second annual RED Day, a national program of the Keller Williams franchises that performs community service.

"We get more of a blessing from it than they do," said the partner in the Coeur d'Alene office.

RED Day stands for Renew, Energize and Donate, and last year about 100,000 man-hours of service were donated, Threadgill said.

"That's 50 years for one person," he said.

This year, the company picked Little Folks Preschool and Kindergarten as their project. For six hours they scrubbed, painted and picked up piles of trash. Inside, 20 gallons of paint in colors to match the theme of each classroom, such as the goldfish room and the yellow bird room.

"My son goes here," said Lorna Griffin, executive assistant at Keller Williams, who along with agents in the office brought forth proposals for projects. "We wanted to make the biggest difference, and affect the most lives."

On the warm spring day, the kids were taken out during the morning so work could go on inside, then brought back inside while exterior work was taken on in the afternoon.

"This is amazing," said Deb Danforth, director of the school since its inception 31 years ago. "It is the hugest blessing in the world."

The school cares for babies through kindergarten age during the school year, and holds summer day camps for all ages, so there is plenty of wear and tear on the building, and keeping their accreditation requires maintenance every few years, she said.

"This is huge for us," Danforth said. "As teachers, we come in on weekends to paint. Boom, they are going to have it done today."

Threadgill said he hopes the activity will inspire other groups to take on similar projects.

"They take care of more than 100 kids," he said. "This is a place parents can take their kids where they are safe and loved."