When Janet Davis told the kids at Children’s Village the volleyball court there would be repaired and usable again, the youngsters jumped up and down and screamed in excitement.

The nonprofit’s director’s words came true last week, thanks to the efforts of dozens of Windermere Realty employees and their families who volunteered to clean, garden, repair and do anything else Children’s Village needed.

“Every year Windermere throughout the Northwest has a community service day. All offices close down on a work day and we go out into the communities and to a service community project,” said Richard Jurvelin, project coordinator. “This is ours.”

Children’s Village is a residential care facility for children in need of a safe place to live. Most are placed there by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare after being removed from a home due to abuse or neglect. Sometimes families bring their kids there because they are in a severe crisis, like homelessness.

The facility, on 14 acres off Hanley Road in Coeur d’Alene, has two large houses that can host up to 12 kids each. Each house has a crisis nursery and children have their own rooms.

“Our philosophy is to keep siblings together and keep kids at their school of origin,” said Marla McMacklin, Children’s Village volunteer coordinator.

Children’s Village is responsible for raising 95 percent of the funds it takes to operate. To do this, the nonprofit receives donations, makes community partnerships and hosts fundraisers.

“This is why volunteering is so important for us,” McMacklin said. “When people come, they volunteer their time and energy. No matter what it is, doing groundwork, cleaning homes, spending time with the children, that all goes into play. It’s priceless.”

By lunch time, the volunteers calculated they had already contributed more than 200 work hours, a month’s worth of full-time work.

Volunteers spent that time deep-cleaning the houses, organizing the garages, repainting sheds and railings, fixing bikes, planting gardens, trimming trees, cleaning pine needles off the roof and removing all the weeds from the volleyball court and adding new sand.

Jennifer Jenkins, a Windermere Coeur d’Alene real estate agent, has been coming to this volunteering event with her kids each year for the past six years. Her son, Jack, 8, started volunteering when he was very young and Jenkins carried him around on her back.

Lydia, Jenkins’ 11-year-old daughter, spent most of her volunteer time planting flowers, sweeping up dead grass and helping to smooth out the volleyball court.

“I like to help because I’m not the only person in the world and it’s nice to help other people,” she said.

Davis stood on the lawn of the Children’s Village, looking at all the volunteers working to make it a better place.

“I am always amazed at how generous this community is,” she said. “We know the children here have been through trauma. They see this, that they are not alone, that they have all this support from the community.”

Children’s Village welcomes donations and other community service. Visit its website, http://www.thechildrensvillage.org, to make a donation or to see its wish list.