Submitted by Thurston County REALTORS Association
More than 100 members of the Thurston County REALTORS Association (TCRA), one of the South Sound’s largest business trade organizations, participated in their annual Community Service Day on Friday, May 18, working on projects throughout Thurston County. Local businesses sponsoring the day of community improvement were Sparks Northwest Insurance, Boggs Inspection Services, United Roofing Solutions, Olympia Federal Savings, and Absolute Mortgage.
The large number of Realtor volunteers took time away from the hot real estate market to partner with Senior Services for South Sound to help several local seniors in Olympia and Lacey clean up around their homes, doing physical projects for those who cannot. On the same day, another large group of Realtors made what has become an annual trek to the historic Mima Prairie Pioneer Cemetery to help maintain an otherwise overgrown resting place for some of the area’s first pioneers.
The previous week, Olympia’s United Roofing Solutions contributed to the Community Service Day effort by clearing a senior’s roof of moss and treating it to help prevent more.
“It is important to us to give back to the community we love,” says Rae Anne Toth, the 2017 president of TCRA .“Realtors believe that our seniors are community treasures and the Mima cemetery is a tribute to the heritage of the earliest settlers in our area. Realtors really turned out for this day—despite being incredibly busy in this market—and worked hard to make a difference.”
The Realtors helped the local seniors by carrying away piles of debris, trimming back overgrown bushes and trees, spreading gravel, cleaning gutters and even building a gate and repairing a deck. One senior woman they helped had at one time coordinated volunteer efforts herself and she commented that it was a huge blessing to be on the receiving end. At another home, Realtors helped a senior gentleman who is an eighteen-year veteran of the Lacey Police Department and a former Resource Officer for North Thurston schools. The man was grateful for the work done on the yard he had cared for meticulously.
A large contingency of the Realtor Association members also spent the day at the Mima Prairie Pioneer Cemetery, providing their own mowers, saws, trimmers and muscle to clean up the plots, headstones and the old orchard, something they have done for the last six years and one of the primary ways the historic cemetery is maintained. Watch Brendan Marchant’s video of the work done in this beautiful location that sits in the middle of Weyerhaeuser land located in southwest Thurston County.
“This is rewarding work and really feels like we make a significant difference in people’s lives,” commented Ed Kunkel, the chair of the Realtor committee that organized the day. “The ‘before and after’ at the old cemetery and in these seniors’ yards was incredible and gratifying for all of us. It made me proud to be a Realtor.
The Thurston County REALTORS Association of more than 600 REALTOR members provides professional real estate services to buyers and sellers and has been committed to protecting property rights and preserving the quality of life in Thurston County for more than 90 years.
