Alex Contreras (left) and Tony Perez clean bleachers Saturday morning at the Marysville Boys & Girls Club.

Alex Contreras (left) and Tony Perez clean bleachers Saturday morning at the Marysville Boys & Girls Club.

Comcast employees spruce up Marysville Boys & Girls Club

MARYSVILLE — When it rained, water seeped inside under the kitchen door. Someone had burned a couch in the alleyway on the building’s north side, leaving a charred patch of paint on the cinder-block wall. Pencils, paper, scissors, paints and other art and school supplies were in cardboard boxes and plastic bins, stacked in a corner of the computer lab.

Hundreds of kids have walked through the Marysville Boys &Girls Club since it opened in 2009 on Beach Avenue, but the 1950s-era gym is showing its age. The club’s skeleton staff did not have time or resources to tackle the list of maintenance jobs and improvement projects.

Dozens of volunteers in bright green T-shirts turned out this weekend to lend a hand. The project was part of Comcast Cares Day, a company-wide day of service that the telecommunications and media giant claims is the biggest single-day corporate volunteer effort in the country. Last year, more than 100,000 Comcast workers, family members and others volunteered, according to the company.

In Snohomish County, volunteers also cleaned up and improved a stretch of the Whitehorse Trail damaged in 2014’s deadly Oso mudslide.

In the Boys &Girls Club parking lot, Mike Graham, a Comcast maintenance technician, stretched out measuring tape along a two-by-four piece of lumber for custom-built shelves for the club’s computer lab. A nail gun popped as another volunteer ‘hammered’ a couple boards together.

Graham double checked his measurement, marked it with a pencil, put the measuring tape away, and pulled down on the power saw’s handle. The whirring blade buzzed through the wood. A block fell to the asphalt.

Thud.

Sawdust hung in the air.

The club smelled like work — sawdust in the parking lot, mulch outside the building’s front door, and cleaning products and paint inside.

Along the alleyway, near where the couch had burned, Davis Haymond was painting along the building’s trim.

Before they started, the beige paint “was kind of faded” and chipping, he said.

Volunteers already had replaced outside lights to discourage another couch burning.

Saturday usually is when Haymond cleans his own house, but, he said, this work meant a lot more.

The club’s director, Christina Trader, agreed.

“It means the world” to the more than 800 kids who belong to the club, which is open for ages 5 to 18, she said.

The club offers before- and after-school care, summer camps, sports teams and other programs. There is a Lego class, where a couple dozen 6- to 9-year-olds have designed and built machines that can pick up trash.

“The kids get so excited about their machines when they see them work,” Trader said.

She got an outside grant for STEM education to pay for the class.

About 100 girls and boys come by every school day, and about 120 in the summer. Everyone is fed, she said.

The club has 28 volleyball, flag football and basketball teams this spring. It has a similar number in the fall. “When I got here” in 2012, “there were three teams,” Trader said.

The Marysville club has steadily grown since then. It offers kids a safe, supportive place to hang out, do homework, play games and sports, and, well, be kids.

No one is turned away if they can’t cover participation fees, she said. “We always figure something out.”

Trader asked the club’s older kids to pick the paint colors for the teen room and the game room. They selected lime green and navy blue — the Seahawks’ and Sounders’ colors.

In the gym, Renee Doleshel, who’s husband works for Comcast, was sorting through board games and finding missing pieces with her daughter, Emma.

Doleshel said she is happy to give up a sunny, Spring Saturday to help the Boys &Girl Club.

“I’ve been doing Comcast Cares Days for nine years,” she said. “I love that Comcast allows us an opportunity to give back.”

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

Talk to us

More in Local News

Marysville firefighters respond to a 12-year-old boy who fell down a well Tuesday May 30, 2023 in Marysville, Washington. (Photo provided by Marysville Fire District)
Marysville firefighters save boy who fell 20 feet into well

The 12-year-old child held himself up by grabbing on to a plastic pipe while firefighters worked to save him.

Highway 9 is set to be closed in both directions for a week as construction crews build a roundabout at the intersection with Vernon Road. (Washington State Department of Transportation)
Weeklong closure coming to Highway 9 section in Lake Stevens

Travelers should expect delays or find another way from Friday to Thursday between Highway 204 and Lundeen Parkway.

Students arriving off the bus get in line to score some waffles during a free pancake and waffle breakfast at Lowell Elementary School on Friday, May 26, 2023, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
800 free pancakes at Everett’s Lowell Elementary feed the masses

The annual breakfast was started to connect the community and the school, as well as to get people to interact.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring speaks at the groundbreaking event for the I-5/SR 529 Interchange project on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
$123M project starting on Highway 529 interchange, I-5 HOV lane

A reader wondered why the highway had a lane closure despite not seeing work done. Crews were waiting on the weather.

Justin Bell was convicted earlier this month of first-degree assault for a December 2017 shooting outside a Value Village in Everett. (Caleb Hutton / Herald file)
Court: Snohomish County jurors’ opaque masks didn’t taint verdict

During the pandemic, Justin Bell, 32, went on trial for a shooting. Bell claims his right to an impartial jury was violated.

Gary Fontes uprights a tree that fell over in front of The Fontes Manor — a miniature handmade bed and breakfast — on Friday, May 12, 2023, at his home near Silver Lake in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett’s mini-Frank Lloyd Wright builds neighborhood of extra tiny homes

A tiny lighthouse, a spooky mansion and more: Gary Fontes’ miniature world of architectural wonders is one-twelfth the size of real life.

Will Steffener
Inslee appoints Steffener as Superior Court judge

Attorney Will Steffener will replace Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Janice Ellis, who is retiring in June.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Mountlake Terrace in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Lawsuit: Defective inhaler led to death of Mountlake Terrace man

Pharmaceutical company Perrigo recalled inhalers in September 2020. Months earlier, Antonio Fritz Sr. picked one up at a pharmacy.

Steven Eggers listens during his resentencing at Snohomish County Courthouse in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Life in prison reduced to 38 years for 1995 Skykomish River killing

Steven Eggers, now 46, was 19 when he murdered Blair Scott, 27. New court rulings granted him a second chance at freedom.

Most Read